A STUDY ON BETEL QUID CHEWING BEHAVIOR AMONG KAOHSIUNG RESIDENTS AGED15 YEARS AND ABOVE

A telephone survey was used to study betel quid chewing behavior of Ka ohsiung residents aged 15 and above in early 1991. Among the 1,162 sub jects, 154 (13.3%) reported that they chewed betel quids and most of t hem (145/154) were men. Among the chewers, 33 (21.4%) indicated that t hey chewed it daily; all were men. Age distribution of the chewing beh avior suggested that more young people chewed it at the time of the su rvey than had been the case in the past. The demographic distributions of betel quid chewing behavior were similar to the characteristics of tobacco smoking in Taiwan. The degree of concurrence of these two beh aviors was very high. Nearly 90% of the subjects believed that betal q uid chewing would cause more harm than good, or it would cause only ha rm, to their health. Discriminant analyses indicated that smoking beha vior and attitude toward the health effect of chewing betel quids were the two most significant and meaningful variables in prediction of th e chewing behavior. Strategies for prevention are recommended. (C) Mun ksgaard, 1996.