By Alexia Saoulli
ONE in 10 Cypriot children is a regular smoker before the age of 13, with 32 per cent of pupils trying cigarettes before puberty, according to the President of the Cyprus Heart Foundation, Christos Mavrellis.
The Cyprus Heart Foundation has released the results of a nationwide study it had carried out looking at underage smokers. The announcement of the figures coincides with a special awareness week on heart disease and the young.
The statistics show alarming levels of smoking among school children – with over half of children attending technical schools admitting that they are regular smokers.
But some children are smoking as early as primary school, with 3.6 per cent of pupils doing so; at secondary level, 16 per cent of gymnasium pupils smoke, 32.8 per cent of those attending Lyceums, while in technical schools the figure rises to a shocking 54.8 per cent. Some 31.7 per cent at University students admitted to the habit.
The survey found that one in two underage smokers had a father who smoked and one in three a mother. If both parents smoke, 65 per cent of their children are likely to become smokers.
According to biology teacher Fotis Mylonas, these results mirror the results of three separate studies carried out at the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia where he currently teaches.
” Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by the results,”Mylonas said yesterday, adding that in his experience pupils often become regular smokers no later than at the age of 14.
” I think the basic motive behind underage smoking today is image and peer pressure.
” Kids think it’s cool to light up a cigarette when they’re out with their friends, and before you know it they’re all trying to impress each other, “he said.
” It’s not even as if they like the taste initially.
” In fact, the actual habit takes some effort on their part, but then before they know it, they’re addicted.”
Based on the gymnasium’s studies, social background and education have nothing to do with who smokes and who doesn’t, said Mylonas. Not even the fear of dying an early, painful death frightens them at this age, or the statistics that every cigarette reduces life by 5.5 minutes – a packet of 20 a day reduces your lifespan by over five years -and that one person dies from smoking somewhere in the world every nine seconds.
” Children think they are invincible and that death will not come knocking at their door.
” The fact that their parents smoke only compounds the problem, because a) they look at their parents and believe them to be healthy and well, so look to them as role models and b) they know they won’t be told off because it’s something their parents indulge in as well, and shockingly, some parents even accept their children smoking at such a young age,”he said.
Mylonas did suggest that unattractive images of smoking that affected physical appearance, such as bad breath, stained fingers or yellow teeth might be ways of convincing young people that smoking is ” not in” .
He did maintain that students should still be made aware of the dangers of smoking and that, ” if we manage to convince the leaders of the group that smoking is bad, then maybe they will be able to influence their peers” .
He said he felt this could be done by gaining students’ trust and reason, not by hounding them with facts.
