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. 2019 Jan 30;19(1):130.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6454-5.

Cigarette smoking and reasons for leaving school among school dropouts in South Africa

Rachana Desai  1   2 , Liesbeth A G Mercken  3 , Robert A C Ruiter  4 , Jan Schepers  5 , Priscilla S Reddy  6   7
Affiliations

Cigarette smoking and reasons for leaving school among school dropouts in South Africa

Rachana Desai et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: School dropouts are at heightened risk of tobacco use compared to in-school learners. School dropouts are described as those not currently enrolled in school for the academic year, have not completed their schooling, and are between 13 and 20 years old. This paper examines the relationship between reasons for leaving school and past month cigarette smoking, taking into account gender differences.

Methods: Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse survey data (n = 4185). Geographical location was also incorporated into the analysis as effect moderators.

Results: Although no significant main effects between reasons for leaving school and tobacco use were found, results showed that those who leave school early smoke more. When examining interaction effects with gender, leaving school due to 'not being able to pay for school fees' was significantly associated with smoking, but only among girls residing in urban areas (OR = 0.327, p = .023).

Conclusions: More research is needed to understand why learners leave school and their subsequent tobacco use. This knowledge will help researchers identify and target those students that are at risk for dropping out of school and using tobacco.

Keywords: Respondent driven sampling; School dropout; South Africa; Tobacco smoking.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The South African Medical Research Ethics Committee granted ethical approval for the study. Permission was additionally obtained from the relevant Provincial Departments of Education and school principles to use the schools as initial points of contact. Participants, as well as the parent/guardians of participants younger than 18 years, gave written consent and assent to participate in the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Respondent Driven Sampling for Out-of-School Youth-A Graphical Illustration of Two Sampling Phases
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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