Opinions and beliefs held by Spanish teenagers regarding tobacco and alcohol consumption: a descriptive study

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Roger Ruiz-Moral¹  Sara Palenzuela-Paniagua²  Jose Angel Fernández García³  Rosa Magallón-Botaya⁴  Celia Jiménez-García⁵  Luis Angel Pérula de Torres⁶ 

[1] Faculty of Medicine, University Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid, Spain;Escuela de Medicina, Edificio E, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Ctra. M-515 de Pozuelo-Majadahonda, Km. 1,800, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain;Health Center Otero, Ceuta, Spain;Health Center Villarrubia, Maimonides Institute for Biomedical Research Córdoba (IMIBIC)/Reina Sofia University Hospital/University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain;Health Center de Arrabal, Zaragoza, Spain;Sanitary District Cordoba and Guadalquivir, Maimonides Institute for Biomedical Research Córdoba (IMIBIC)/Reina Sofia University Hospital/University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain;Teaching Unit of Family and Community Medicine in Córdoba, Sanitary District Cordoba and Guadalquivir, Maimonides Institute for Biomedical Research Córdoba (IMIBIC)/Reina Sofia University Hospital/University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain;

关键词: Teenagers;    Alcohol use;    Cigarette smoking;    Health behaviors;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1417-y

 received in 2013-09-24, accepted in 2015-01-14,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPreventive strategies are the most effective approach for dealing with issues of substance abuse, particularly in teenagers. Such strategies adapt well to this target population. Our objective was to reveal the opinions and beliefs held by teenagers about tobacco and alcohol as types of drugs, and their effects on health.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, participants completed a self-administered questionnaire based on the World Health Organization “Health Behaviour of School-aged Children” study. Our sample included 1,005 schoolchildren aged between 11 and 13 years, resident in the province of Córdoba in Spain. Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed using a chi-squared test.ResultsOf respondents, 25% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 22.2–27.6%) and 61% (95% CI: 58.0–64.1%), respectively, did not consider tobacco or alcohol to be drugs. No relationship was found between tobacco and alcohol use, and the belief that these are drugs (p = 0.477 and p = 0.217, respectively). A total 98.2% of adolescents surveyed (95% CI: 97.3–99.1%) believed that tobacco causes physical damage, mainly to the lungs, heart, and to the developing fetus. Additionally, 92.4% (95% CI: 90.6–94.0%) believed that alcohol is detrimental to health and identified the liver as the organ most frequently damaged by alcohol consumption. The media was identified as the main source of information about these substances by 78.0% of respondents (95% CI: 75.4–80.6%).ConclusionsTeenagers possess an acceptable level of knowledge and information about the negative effects of tobacco and alcohol on health; however, many of them do not consider these substances to be drugs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Ruiz-Moral et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015