Factors affecting smoking initiation among the youth in Bangladesh – An empirical analysis

• Main Author: Biva Arani Mallik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Publishing 2018-10-01
• Series: Tobacco Induced Diseases
• Subjects: smoking initiation; youth; Bangladesh
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/tid/,94761,0,2.html

Introduction Tobacco is the single greatest preventable cause of death in the world today. Prevalence of tobacco use among youth has always been a critical issue in tobacco control. This paper examines factors that can contribute to smoking initiation among the youth in Bangladesh. Methods The 2013 Bangladesh Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) is used in this study. Logistic regression models are carried out to explore various factors that affect initiation of cigarette smoking among the youth in Bangladesh. Results Results reveal that the youth who has more money to spend are more than twice as likely to initiate smoking, however the youth who thinks cigarettes are expensive are less likely to smoke. Results also show that the youth who witness smoking inside their homes and school premises has a higher probability to initiate smoking compared to their respective counterparts. Among the young population who initiates smoking also believes that it would be easy to quit smoking relative to the beliefs of the non-smokers. Moreover, the youth who are not taught about the dangers of smoking in classes has a higher chance to initiate smoking. Conclusions Results of this paper hold strong policy implications. Findings of this paper demonstrate that imposing higher taxes on cigarettes as well as smoking ban at home and schools can reduce smoking initiation rates among the young population of Bangladesh. Furthermore, in the academic curriculum it is essential to include the harmful effects of tobacco use to discourage the youth from initiation.