South Korea - One out of every 10 female high-school students smoke cigarettes habitually..

March 4, 2011 - One out of every 10 female high-school students smoke cigarettes habitually, ringing alarm bells at schools and with parents in search of an effective way to discourage young women from picking up the habit.

According to a study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHSA), Wednesday, March 2nd the smoking rate among female high-school students stood at 10.2 percent in 2009, up from 2.4 percent in 1992. The rate of female middle school students rose to 5.1 percent from 2.8 percent over the same period. Smokers are defined as those lighting up at least once a month. About 7.4 percent of adult women were found to smoke regularly in 2009, up from 5.1 percent in 1992.

“I am pretty positive that more young women smoke in reality than the official statistics indicate because many are reluctant to publically admit they are smokers. Also, an even larger proportion of female students now smoke cigarettes than in 2009,” a KIHSA fellow Suh Mee-kyung said. Suh said female adolescents are easily influenced by outside factors, stressing that if they are encouraged by teachers, parents, friends and anti-smoking campaigners, they are more likely to quit before reaching adulthood.

“The government first needs to introduce a monitoring system to understand how and where young female students learn to smoke cigarettes, in order to draw up an effective anti-smoking policy. Additionally, it should be made much tougher than it currently is for them to purchase cigarettes,” the fellow said. She added a nationwide full-fledged anti-smoking campaign should be launched to increase the awareness among adolescents of the cigarette’s negative effects on their health.

Meanwhile, the study found a strong correlation between female adolescents’ tendency to smoke and parents’ wealth, occupation and education. The lower the socioeconomic background of the parents, the more likely their children will smoke.

Japan - similar news brief - females
Japan - study shows the promotion of menthol cigarettes to women had increased the rate of female smoking even as men smoked less..

Reference: 1 in 10 female high school students smoke cigarettes by Lee Hyo-sik (leehs@koreatimes.co), The Korea Times, 3/2/2011.

South Korea - some related news briefs:
South Korea - appellate court upholds lower court ruling rejecting claims of compensation for smoking lung cancer patients..;
South Korea - more tobacco control measures to be implemented - wants positive results by 2014..;
South Korea - govt serious about getting smokers to quit..;
South Korea - charge enough for cigarettes smokers will quit..;
South Korea - BAT Korea launching Dunhill Nanocut 1 mg, next week..;
South Korean tobacco company KT&G signs deal to sell cigarettes in the Middle East and Russia..;
South Korea - BAT releases Dunhill Orient as a limited edition..;
http://snus-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/south-korea-end-of-next-year-teenagers.html;
South Korea - stop people from smoking go ahead and triple the price of cigarettes..;
South Korea - Smoking Manner Campaign - promoting cigarette butt-free streets..;
South Korea - in 2007, world's 12th largest cigarette exporter..;
South Korea - study finds higher prices most effective method to discourage smoking..;
South Korea - a new Raison line extension..;
next month enforcement of ban on smoking by taxi drivers..;
South Korea - fines collected for dumping cigarette butts are down.. ;
South Korea - BAT launches new cigarette seems similar to Camel Crush..;
South Korea - rate of male smokers probably higher than any other OECD country..;
South Korea - BAT to further invest in Sacheon factory..;
South Korea - a look at KT&G Corporation with 63% of the market..;
South Korea - streets and parks of Seoul City could be designated as non-smoking areas..;
PMI - slide presentation South Korean Cigarette Market..;
South Korea - KT&G forms alliance with Imperial Tobacco Group..;
South Korea - more smokers in 2009 than in 2008..;
South Korea - remote island going smoke-free, car-free and night lights-free..;
South Korea - Stressed-out Koreans smoking more..;
South Korea - to ban smoking in public places from 2011..;
Korea - BAT - winning the hearts and minds of customers based on tactics tailored to local tastes..;
Korea - sets target to reduce smoking 10% in 5-years..;
Korea - stricter regulation of the tobacco industry coming..;
South Korea - tobacco imports surge 396-fold over 10-years..;
Korea - slight increase in men smoking.. ;
South Korea - anti-tobacco campaign - body painting..;
Korea - smoking ban just about everywhere by end of 2009..;
Tobacco marketing in South Korea has been deliberately aimed at girls and young women..;
Korea - smoking rates fall for men and women...
(passive smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, ets, involuntary smoking, sidestream smoking)