Abstract :
Background: As with tobacco use, alcohol use shows a monotonic increase during adolescents and young adulthood, particularly during the transition out of high school and excessive alcohol consumption can lead to lifelong problems and chronic diseases.
Objective: To study the addiction behavior practiced by the Adolescent.
Study Design: An observational cross-sectional study.
Setting: The present study was carried out in Department of Community Medicine, Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad & Urban area of district Ghaziabad. 750 Adolescents aged 10 to 19 years studying in the selected schools of urban Ghaziabad were included for the study. The period of study was from November 2011 to October 2012.
Results: Proportion was higher (64.8%) in male adolescents in comparison to female adolescents (33.9%). The prevalence of drugs, smoking, tobacco chewing and drinking among adolescents was found to be 2.5%, 21.7%, 9.6% and 15.5% respectively. Among the adolescents, who used tobacco chewing, 61.1% of them were ever users and 38.9% were current users. The students who used smoking, 50.3% of them were ever users and 49.7% were current users. Students who used addicting substance, their encouragement to start addiction was maximum from peers (33.0%). About three-fourth (75.4%) of adolescents who used
addicting substance had knowledge of health hazards of addicting substances.
Conclusion: The study evokes an urgent need to stimulate an action to identify those at risk and those who need treatment and prevention of progression of the health risk behaviors, among the adolescents.
Keyword :
Adolescent, Addiction behavior, Source of inspiration, Addicting substance, Health hazards.