Prevalence of cigarette and marijuana smoking and its associated factors amongst secondary school going adolescents in ndola urdan, Zambia

Abstract

Introduction: The aim in this study was to determine prevalence and associated factors of tobacco and marijuana smoking among secondary school going adolescents in Ndola Zambia. Methods: Data was used from a selfadministered questionnaire based cross-sectional survey of grades 8’s and 10’s in five regions of Ndola Zambia. Outcomes were ‘been an ever and current cigarette smoker’ and ‘been an ever and current marijuana smoker’. Factors were socio-economic and demographic variables, personal and family behaviour, peer behaviour and media exposure. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with the outcomes. Results: The total number of pupils who participated in the study was 400. The overall prevalence of cigarette smoking and marijuana smoking was 13% (53/400) and 3% (13/400) respectively. Smokers at home and alcohol consumption were found associated with smoking cigarettes; AOR=1.65 (95%CI = [1.16, 2.35]) and AOR=2.47 (95% CI = [1.67, 3.64]) respectively. Non-smoking friends, education on dangers of smoking and seeing cigarette brands on TV were found to be protective factors of smoking cigarettes; AOR=0.42 (95%CI = [0.28, 0.63]), AOR=0.45 (95% CI=[0.31, 0.67]) and AOR=0.67 (95% CI=[0.46, 0.98]) respectively. Smokers at home and alcohol consumption were found associated with marijuana smoking; AOR= 2.93 (95%CI = [1.50, 5.72]) and AOR= 2.98 (95% CI = [1.65, 5.37]) respectively. Conclusion: Both cigarette smoking and marijuana smoking are prevalent among secondary school going adolescents in Ndola Zambia. Family and friends’ behaviour, education and media messages, as well as alcohol consumption are related to adolescent smoking of cigarettes and marijuana. This aspect needs to be integrated into design of programmes aimed at reducing use of the two substances.