PART 3: CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES - SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL

Use of Tobacco

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. 40

Daily smoking

Measure

The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report smoking cigarettes every day.

Key findings

  • In 2006, 8.5% of children aged 9-17 reported smoking cigarettes every day (see Table 63).

Table 63: Percentage of children who report smoking cigarettes every day,
by gender, age and social class (2002 and 2006)

    2002     2006  
  Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
Total 9.3 10.4 10.0 8.3 8.8 8.5
Age            
9 years - - - 0.3 0.1 0.2
10-11 years 0.5 0.3 0.4 1.1 0.3 0.6
12-14 years 5.1 6.1 5.7 4.6 4.7 4.6
15-17 years 19.0 20.2 19.7 14.4 17.0 15.6
Social class            
SC 1-2 7.1 7.2 7.2 5.9 7.2 6.5
SC 3-4 7.7 10.7 9.5 7.7 9.3 8.5
SC 5-6 10.1 10.6 10.4 7.9 8.3 8.1

Source: HBSC Survey

Differences by gender and social class

  • The percentage of children who reported smoking every day is relatively stable across gender (see Table 63).
  • The percentage of children who reported smoking every day was higher among older children and those from lower social classes:
    • 15.6% of children aged 15-17, compared to 0.2% of 9-year-olds, 0.6% of 10-11 year-olds and 4.6% of 12-14 year-olds;
    • 8.5% of children from SC 3-4 and 8.1% of children from SC 5-6, compared to 6.5% of children from SC 1-2

Differences by geographic area

  • Children in the Midlands region are more likely (14.3%) to report smoking cigarettes every day, while children in the South-West region are least likely (6.3%) to report this (see Table 64).

Table 64: Percentage of children who report smoking cigarettes every day, by NUTS Region (2006)

  2006
Border 6.8
Midlands 14.3
West 9.1
Dublin 9.8
Mid-East 9.2
Mid-West 7.8
South-East 8.5
South-West 6.3
Overall 8.5

Source: HBSC Survey

International comparisons

  • From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13 and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 6.5% of Irish children reported smoking cigarettes every day (see Figure 24). This is higher than the HBSC average of 5.8%.
  • Among all 40 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among children from Sweden (2.2%) and the highest among children from Greenland (14.2%). Overall, Irish children ranked 17th
  • Among the 35 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 24th (6.7%).

Figure 24: Percentage of children who report smoking cigarettes every day, by country (2006)

fig24

Source: HBSC Survey

Weekly smoking

Measure

The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report smoking cigarettes every week.

Key findings

  • In 2006, 11.7% of children aged 9-17 reported smoking cigarettes every week (see Table 65).

Table 65: Percentage of children who report smoking cigarettes every week, by gender, age and social class (2002 and 2006)

 

 2002

 2006
 

 Boys

 Girls

 Total

 Boys

 Girls

 Total
Total

12.7

 13.9

 13.4

 11.3

 12.2

 11.7
Age

 

  

  

  

  

  
9 years

-

 -

-

 0.6

 0.2

 0.4
10-11 years

 2.1

 1.2

 1.6

 2.0

 0.6

 1.2
12-14 years

 8.3

 9.1

 8.7

 7.2

 7.7

 7.4
15-17 years

 23.6

 25.2

 24.6

 18.5

 22.0

 20.1
Social class

  

  

  

  

  

  
SC 1-2

 10.8

 9.9

 10.3

 8.5

 10.5

 9.5
SC 3-4

 11.7

 14.6

 13.4

 10.8

 12.6

 11.7
SC 5-6

 13.1

 14.6

 13.9

 10.7

 11.5

 11.1

Source: HBSC Survey

Differences by gender and social class

  • The percentage of children who reported smoking every week is relatively stable across gender (see Table 65).
  • The percentage of children who reported smoking every week was higher among older children and children in lower social classes:
    • 20.1% of children aged 15-17, compared to 0.4% of 9-year-olds, 1.2% of 10-11 year-olds and 7.4% of 12-14 year-olds;
    • 11.7% of children from SC 3-4 and 11.1% of children from SC 5-6, compared to 9.5% of children from SC 1-2.

Differences by geographic area

  • Children in the Midlands region are more likely (19.5%) to report smoking cigarettes every week, while children in the South-West region are least likely (9.1%) to report this (see Table 66).

Table 66: Percentage of children who report smoking cigarettes every week, by NUTS Region (2006)

 

 2006
Border

 9.4
Midlands

19.5
West

 13.2
Dublin

12.7
Mid-East

 11.0
Mid-West

 11.7
South-East

 11.9
South-West

 9.1
Overall

11.7

Source: HBSC Survey

International comparisons

  • From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13 and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 9.2% of Irish children reported smoking cigarettes every week (see Figure 25). This is above the HBSC average of 8.1%.
  • Among all 40 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among children from Sweden (3.5%) and the highest among children from Greenland (19.3%). Overall, Irish children ranked 17th.
  • Among the 35 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 26th (9.4%).

Figure 25: Percentage of children who report smoking cigarettes every week, by country (2006)

fig24

Source: HBSC Survey

Technical notes
All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they are subject to potential biases in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

Percentage differences are presented for descriptive purposes only and may not reflect a statistically significant finding.

Social class (SC) is classified into one of the following groups (introduced in 1996 by the CSO), defined on the basis of occupation:
SC I: Professional
SC 2: Managerial
SC 3: Non-manual
SC 4: Skilled manual
SC 5: Semi-skilled
SC 6: Unskilled

NUTS is an acronym for the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. This classification was legally established by EU Regulation No. 1059/2003 on 29 May 2003. In Ireland, NUTS is classified hierarchically as Level 1 – Ireland; Level 2 – Regions; and Level 3 – Regional Authorities. The 8 Regional Authorities in Ireland (NUTS 3 regions) were established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (see Appendix 2).

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40 WHO (2003) 'Neglected Global Epidemics: Three Growing Threats'. In: World Health Report 2003: Shaping the Future. Copenhagen: World Health Organization.