Prevalence, Perception and Enabling Factors Associated with Cigarette Smoking Among Senior Secondary School Students in Festac Town, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos State

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VIII, Issue V, May 2021 | ISSN 2321–2705

=Prevalence, Perception and Enabling Factors Associated with Cigarette Smoking Among Senior Secondary School Students in Festac Town, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos State

Chigbu, L. C., Oyewole, O. & Akhamiokhor, V. K
Department of Public and Applied Health, Babcock University, Nigeria

Abstract
Tobacco consumption through cigarette smoking is one of the world’s leading preventable causes of non-communicable diseases and premature death accounting for six million preventable deaths each year. Adolescent experimentation with a highly addictive drug like nicotine, easily leads to a lifetime of tobacco dependence. Early age of smoking initiation among young people may predispose them to long-term negative effects. This assess the Prevalence and Factors Associated with Cigarette Smoking among Senior Secondary Students in FESTAC Town, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos State. A cross-sectional study was conducted among senior secondary school students enrolled in public schools within FESTAC Town. A population of 368 students were sample was selected through a multistage sampling technique. A validated questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients, which ranged from 0.7 to 0.85, was used to gather data. The instrument assessed knowledge, attitudinal dispositions and perception of students to cigarette smoking. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23. The study highlighted that the prevalence of cigarette smoking among the respondents is 6.8%, although about 39.4% of the respondents have tried or experimented with cigarette smoking. In regards to attitudinal disposition towards cigarette smoking, many 68.8% of the respondents showed positive attitudinal disposition towards cigarette smoking. Many 3.6% showed positive perception about cigarette smoking. Majority 87.3% showed high enabling factors of cigarette smoking. Majority 80.7% of the respondents indicated that they have never thought of smoking, Nearly all 92.9% of the respondents indicated that they do not think about taking part in smoking, few 3.0% who indulge in smoking indicated they have plans to stop smoking and only 6.5% of the respondents indicated that they have stopped smoking. The study concluded that the prevalence of smoking among was high which was also similar to other studies that have been conducted both locally and globally. This suggests that there is a need for the education sector to create early cost-effective interventions and education campaigns that target pre-secondary and secondary school students. These interventions should extend to their place of residence so that influences in the home environment and social surroundings that contribute to cigarette smoking are also tackled.

Key word: Prevalence, Cigarette, Smoking, Senior Secondary School Students.

1.0 Introduction/ Background

Tobacco is the only legally available consumer product (Momoh, 2009). World Health Organization [WHO] (2015) has opined that smoking is a top cause of death. Tobacco use is a major cause of many of the world’s top killer diseases, including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive lung disease and lung cancer. In total, tobacco use is responsible for the death of

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