Report On The Global Youth Tobacco Survey Data
A report, due to be released at the New Zealand Smoke-free Conference being held in Wellington on 13/14 September, found
that young New Zealanders experiment with tobacco at an early age and are often exposed to secondhand smoke at home.
The New Zealand Youth Lifestyle Study is a two-yearly study of secondary school students’ beliefs, attitudes, and
behaviours towards tobacco. Eighty-two schools and 3,434 students participated in the 2002 Youth Lifestyle Study, said
Andrew Waa of the Health Sponsorship Council. The study was completed by students in Years 10 and 12.
“Questions in the Youth Lifestyle Study allow us to compare students from NZ with students from over 150 other
countries” says Mr Waa. For example, students were asked if they had ever tried smoking, over two thirds of students
had. “The number of young New Zealanders who have ever tried smoking is comparable to rates from the United States, but
is considerably higher than that reported in some other countries.”
Data from the study were analyzed by researchers from the Social and Behavioural Research in Cancer Group at the
University of Otago. Helen Darling, who is analyzing the data as part of her PhD studies, said that there were concerns
about the young age at which New Zealanders were experimenting with tobacco. Around 7% of boys and 6% of girls surveyed
had tried smoking by age 7 years. “It would be timely to review tobacco prevention efforts to include younger children”
says Ms Darling. “Currently prevention is focused on older primary school children and children at intermediate and
secondary school level, many of whom have already experimented with tobacco.”
Dr Reeder, a supervisor of Ms Darling’s PhD and a co-author of the report said that researchers were also concerned
about the large proportion of students exposed to secondhand smoke in the home. Overall, 14% of the non-smokers and 40%
of the daily smokers were exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke in the home on all 7 days preceding the survey. Dr Reeder
said that it was appropriate that recent health promotion has centred on reducing exposure to secondhand smoke and
educating the public of the dangers. “Those dangers include a greater likelihood that exposed youth would become smokers
themselves”, Dr Reeder said.