Teenagers in the process of discovering their identities are prone to be greatly influenced by their peers and surroundings. And so we see some teens go astray and try all sorts of vices including smoking. To them smoking is a form of stress reliever.
But there’s a new study that pointed out the role education plays in helping cut smoking among the young people. The study conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Institute of Public Health showed that a good performance in school can help reduce the likelihood of smoking among teens. Published in the Biomed Central’s International Journal for Equity in Health specifically found that children achieving well in school, including those belonging in the low socio-economic group, are not prone to smoke. The research involved more than 20,300 schoolchildren from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Lead researcher Christina Schnohr revealed that those with above average level of achievement in school were at lower risk of smoking. She also confirmed that children from poorer backgrounds have a tendency to smoke and are the ones who don’t perform well in their academics. In the study, children coming from poor families who don’t show a good performance in school mostly come from the U.K. On the contrary, the poorer children who have high achievements are not likely to smoke.
Based on these findings, the Danish researchers said teachers play a vital role in providing support to students notably those coming from the low income group. If they only focus on these poor students, there’s a big chance that smoking in the youth will be greatly reduced.
In many parts of the world, smoking is prevalent among the younger generation. In the countries covered under the recent study, smoking is a major factor of inequality in mortality between the well off and the poor. But with the proper intervention and improved education, reducing the gap may be easier to achieve.
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