Anthropological and medical marks of smoking behavior of the Romanian teenagers

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the frequency and the effects of smoking on health and establish the importance of some educational programs for preventing and quitting smoking for teenagers and young people. The cross-sectional study was created in 2011-2012, within the partnership educational projects, No. 357/2011 and 356/2011, the sample comprised 515 subjects (228 male, 287 female) from both urban and rural areas, 12-20 years of age. They were medically and anthropometrically examined and they filled out questionnaires containing 41 items. The results were statistically processed with SPSS version 13. 37.18% of the participants, of both genres, smoked at least once in a lifetime. 55.17% of the boys and 65.04% of the girls first tried a cigarette between 11 and 16 years of age. 49.70% of the participants had regular smokers in their families. 37.63% of the girls and 25.67% of the boys had consistent smoker parents. The cardio-vascular and digestive illnesses were found in 24.59% of the participants' family members, these cases all being followed by diabetes and metabolic diseases (22.95%). 31.71% of the participants of both genres considered their health status as satisfactory, the acute infections of upper respiratory tract being the most common. Young people start smoking for various reasons. Awareness campaigns are, thus, necessary, in order to popularize the negative effects of smoking on health for both active and passive smokers, passive smokers who are not to be blamed in any case.