Smoking amongst UK Bangladeshi adolescents aged 14-15

This paper reports on an investigation into smoking amongst 14- to 15-year- old Bangladeshis living in an UK inner city locality. A survey using self-c ompletion questionnaires was undertaken in conjunction with focus group dis cussions. The survey of 316 Bangladeshi adolescents was conducted to determ ine smoking prevalence. Regular smoking was more common amongst Bangladeshi males (39%) than amongst Bangladeshi females (11%). Thirty-one people (17 females and 14 males) took part in seven focus groups (four female and thre e male) which were conducted in schools (six) and youth clubs (one). Focus group discussions were conducted to examine what smoking means to Banglades hi teenagers and factors which influence why they do or do not smoke, Diffe rences between what smoking means to Bangladeshi females and males are iden tified which arise from perceived social norms and cultural values, and gre atly influence smoking uptake, However, many of the reasons why Bangladeshi adolescents continue to smoke, stop smoking or never smoke appear similar to those identified in other studies with largely white adolescents, Factor s underpinning adolescent choices together with the implications of the stu dy findings for the development of smoking prevention initiatives for inner city Bangladeshi teenagers are discussed.