Demographic and Socio-economic Factors Influencing Smoking Among Undergraduate Students in Owerri West, Imo State

Abstract

The global prevalence of cigarette smoking is increasing especially in developing countries where more tobacco deaths occur. Tobacco smoking is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and death worldwide. The objective of the study is to determine the demographic and socio-economic factors influencing smoking among undergraduate students in the selected schools. The study design was a cross sectional descriptive study which aided in examining the relationship between other variables and the smoking status of the students in the selected higher institution. The selected schools were stratified into two and a random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of four hundred and fifty (450) students drawn from Federal University of Technology (200), Federal Poly Nekede (250) respectively. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the results were displayed in frequency tables and charts. The highest percentage (51%) were found in 20-24 years in FUTO and 94(49%) in POLYNEK. The highest percentage (51%) of students that earned ₦6-10, 000 were from FUTO and 50% from POLYNEK. In general view of prevalence of smoking among students; 67% of them do smoke while 33% reported no to smoking habit. In socio-economic aspect of smoking among students, extra money on student has statistical influence on smoking where X2 =21.18; Df =2; P-value =0.001. In conclusion, it was proved statistically that demographic and socioeconomic factors had influence in smoking among students and most of the students were influenced into smoking by friends. Therefore, health education should be provided for the students on dangers of smoking in Imo State and beyond in order to reduce the effect of smoking on students.