RISK FACTOR CIGARETTE-SMOKING - RESULTS O F A QUESTIONING AMONG 6TH GRADE STUDENTS AT SECONDARY-SCHOOLS IN DUSSELDORF IN 1992

A representative questioning of 878 sixth grade students (532 boys and 346 girls) concerning cigarette smoking was made in all secondary sch ools (''Hauptschulen'') in Dusseldorf. The mean age was 13.0 years for the boys and 12.8 years for the girls. The following results were obt ained (data for girls in brackets): 52.1% (52.3%) had not smoked a sin gle cigarette, 14.3% (17.1%) only one and 16.5% (16.2%) had smoked 2-1 0 cigarettes. 11-100 cigarettes were smoked from 9.2% (10.4%) and > 10 0 from 8.1% (4.0%). 9.4% (5.8%) were already daily smokers. Male and f emale students smoked almost equal rates. The number of heavy smokers increased rapidly with age. Many heavy smokers started smoking during the fourth grade or earlier. Most of these children continued smoking during the years. In contrast, most of the mild smokers had already qu itted smoking when the questioning took place. In the families of heav y smokers more people smoked at home than in the families of the nonsm okers. A better significant relationship concerning the smoking behavi our was obtained for the school children and their friends. In the ave rage, the students from foreign countries smoked a little bit less tha n their German classmates. Almost every child of the non heavy smoking group and most of the children of the heavy smoking group wanted to s top smoking. For the heavy smokers the aspect of fun was the strongest motive for smoking, followed by the influence of friends and the curi osity how it feels.