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More women taking up smoking, health bureau says

Bureau of Health Promotion staff show pictures of female students buying cigarettes at a press conference yesterday to warn about the dangers of smoking. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

The number of women smokers has risen and more girls under the age of 15 are lighting up, with psychological factors such as low self-esteem to blame, the Department of Health has found.

According to Bureau of Health Promotion figures, 4.76 percent of women over the age of 18 smoked regularly last year, while up to 5.84 percent had smoked in the past.

Although only a slight increase from the 4.54 percent figure recorded in 2004, bureau officials were concerned because the number of female smokers has been rising steadily over the years.

Deputy Director of the health department Wang Hsiu-hong (王秀紅), speaking at a press conference to address the issue, said women were plagued with smoking-related illnesses not only from smoking, but also because the high percentage of male smokers in the country, at 39.88 percent, means women are victims of secondhand smoke.

Wang added that cigarette companies are now targeting women, which was another reason for the increase in female smokers.

Bureau figures also showed that 54.20 percent of women smokers wanted to quit. In addition, 37.29 percent said they were exposed to secondhand smoke at home, while 25.54 percent said they were exposed at work.

The bureau also found that 4.2 percent of junior high school girls between the ages of 13 and 15 smoked, a rate almost as high as that of adults.

Up to 38 percent of junior high school students had tried their first cigarette before the age of 10, it found.

Chang Ching-ching (張卿卿), a professor in the department of advertising at National Chengchi University, said that in a two-stage survey she conducted at the end of last year and last month of high school female smokers, 5.1 percent polled said that they had smoked at least once in the past month.

Of these smokers, most came from blue-collar families, had bad parent-child relationships, were depressed or had low self-esteem, Chang said.

This differentiated them from high school boys, as Chang said the reasons high school boys smoke usually do not include low self-esteem.

Girls who smoke are mainly affected by psychological issues and need more support from parents and teachers, she said.

Also, 55.6 percent of the 1,415 girls polled said they had purchased cigarettes from convenience stores, Chang said.

Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁), deputy director-general of the bureau, said that according to WHO estimates, roughly 10 million women have died from smoking-related illnesses in the past 50 years.
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