Use of Smokeless Tobacco among Secondary School Male Students in Abha City, KSA

Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude and practice of male secondary school students toward use of smokeless tobacco, and to assess factors that might motivate smokeless tobacco consumption in Abha City, KSA. Methods: A cross sectional study included A special questionnaire was designed for data collection during inter-viewing 400 male students at secondary schools in Abha City, KSA. Results: The prevalence of currently use smokeless tobacco among the students was 22.8%, most of them (87.9%) started using it before the age of 17 years. Use of smokeless tobacco is significantly higher among those who do not know that smokeless tobacco contains nicotine and causing addiction, and those who did not receive health education at school. Most students were motivated to use smokeless tobacco by their friends at school (68.1%) or a member of their family (35.2%). Planning to cut down using smokeless tobacco was reported by (28.6%) while (25.3%) of users feel guilty when using it, and (54.9%) feel annoyed when asked to stop using it. Conclusions: Smokeless tobacco is commonly used by secondary school students. The decision to start using smokeless tobacco is strongly influenced by friends and family members who use it. Recommendations: The family should be motivated to play a pivotal role to avoid tobacco use among children. Educational curricula at schools should include knowledge about smokeless tobacco and its health hazards.