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Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Fact Sheet • • • • • • • •

The UAE GYTS includes data on prevalence of cigarette and other tobacco use as well as information on five determinants of tobacco use: access/availability and price, environmental tobacco smoke exposure (ETS), cessation, media and advertising, and school curriculum. These determinants are components UAE could include in a comprehensive tobacco control program.

The UAE GYTS was a school-based survey of students in 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade conducted in 2005.

A two-stage cluster sample design was used to produce representative data for each of the four regions in UAE. At the first stage, schools were selected with probability proportional to enrollment size. At the second stage, classes were randomly selected and all students in selected classes were eligible to participate. The school response rate was 100%, the student response rate was 93.1%, and the overall response rate was 93.1%. A total of 16,447 students participated in the UAE GYTS.

Prevalence

24.9% of students had ever smoked cigarettes (Male = 34.4%, Female = 14.4%)

22.4% currently use any tobacco product (Male = 29.3%, Female = 14.1%)

10.1% currently smoke cigarettes (Male = 15.0%, Female = 4.3%)

31.3% currently use other tobacco products (Male = 36.7%, Female = 24.9%)

12.7% of never smokers are likely to initiate smoking next year

Knowledge and Attitude

28.4% think boys and 17.0% think girls who smoke have more friends

24.8% think boys and 16.4% think girls who smoke look more attractive

Access and Availability—Current Smokers

20.8% usually smoke at home

39.5% buy cigarettes in a store

67.6% who bought cigarettes in a store were NOT refused purchase because of their age

Environmental Tobacco Smoke

26.5% live in homes where others smoke in their presence

32.9% are around others who smoke in places outside their home

69.8% think smoking should be banned from public places

64.3% think smoke from others is harmful to them

26.0% have one or more parents who smoke

9.8% have most or all friends who smoke

Cessation—Current Smokers

66.8% want to stop smoking

67.2% tried to stop smoking during the past year

87.8% have ever received help to stop smoking

Media and Advertising

65.5% saw anti-smoking media messages, in the past 30 days

70.4% saw pro-cigarette ads on billboards, in the past 30 days

64.1% saw pro-cigarette ads in newspapers or magazines, in the past 30 days

13.1% have an object with a cigarette brand logo

11.4% were offered free cigarettes by a tobacco company representative

School

44.5% had been taught in class, during the past year, about the dangers of smoking

25.2% had discussed in class, during the past year, reasons why people their age smoke

45.0% had been taught in class, during the past year, the effects of tobacco use

Highlights

  • Over 2 in 10 students currently use any form of tobacco; 10.1% of the students currently smoke cigarettes; nearly one-third currently use some other form of tobacco.
  • ETS exposure is high—one-quarter of the students live in homes where others smoke, and 1 in 3 students are exposed to smoke around others outside of the home; 1 in 4 have a parent who smokes, and almost 10% of the students have most or all friends who smoke.
  • Over 6 in 10 students think smoke from others is harmful to them.
  • Two-thirds of the current smokers want to stop smoking.
  • 1 in 10 students was offered a free cigarette by a tobacco company representative.
  • 2 in 3 students saw anti-smoking media messages in the past 30 days; 7 in 10 students saw pro-cigarette ads in the past 30 days.

 

For additional information, please E-mail:
tobaccoinfo@cdc.gov

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Page last reviewed 06/27/2007
Page last modified 06/27/2007