Elsevier

Public Health

Volume 98, Issue 5, September 1984, Pages 277-281
Public Health

Smoking and weight control in teenagers

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-3506(84)80003-7Get rights and content

Abstract

In a Cancer Research Campaign-funded survey of smoking habits and opinions of 16,000students aged 9–19 years in northern England in December 1982, the respondents were asked if they thought that smoking keeps the weight down.

The heaviest regular smokers (42·2%) were the most likely to agree that smokingcontrols weight, whilst those who had never smoked were least likely to agree (16·6%). Agreement increased with increasing smoking. More girls than boys agreed. The most significant differences between smokers' and non-smokers' opinions occurred in 13-, 14- and 16-year-old girls. In this age group more girls than boys reported regular smoking. Up to the age of 12 years, smokers were extremely unlikely to agree that smoking keeps the weight down.

It is suggested that the intention of weight control might be influential in causing the high incidence of smoking in teenage girls.

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