Primary Navigation for the CDC Website
CDC en Español

Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)

Saint Lucia

Fact Sheet • • • • • • • •

The Saint Lucia 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 Saint Lucia could include in a comprehensive tobacco control program.

The Saint Lucia GYTS was a school-based survey of students in forms 1, 2, 3 and 4 conducted in 2007.

A two-stage cluster sample design was used to produce representative data for Saint Lucia. 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 77.7%, and the overall response rate was 77.7%. A total of 1,580 students participated in the Saint Lucia GYTS.

Prevalence

36.1% of students had ever smoked cigarettes (Boy = 46.4%, Girl = 27.9%)

18.3% currently use any tobacco product (Boy = 22.1%, Girl = 15.7%)

13.6% currently smoke cigarettes (Boy = 17.8%, Girl = 10.7%)

10.3% currently use other tobacco products (Boy = 12.4%, Girl = 9.1%)

17.3% of never smokers are likely to initiate smoking next year

Knowledge and Attitudes

34.9% think boys and 19.2% think girls who smoke have more friends

9.5% think boys and 7.3% think girls who smoke look more attractive

Access and Availability - Current Smokers

29.2% usually smoke at home

17.9% buy cigarettes in a store

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

Environmental Tobacco Smoke

25.3% live in homes where others smoke in their presence

64.4% are around others who smoke in places outside their home

81.6% think smoking should be banned from public places

77.0% think smoke from others is harmful to them

27.9% have one or more parents who smoke

8.7% have most or all friends who smoke

Cessation - Current Smokers

56.7% want to stop smoking

59.8% tried to stop smoking during the past year

64.3% have ever received help to stop smoking

Media and Advertising

73.5% saw anti-smoking media messages, in the past 30 days

55.6% saw pro-cigarette ads on billboards, in the past 30 days

46.1% saw pro-cigarette ads in newspapers or magazines, in the past 30 days

12.7% have an object with a cigarette brand logo

11.2% were offered free cigarettes by a tobacco company representative

School

48.1% had been taught in class, during the past year, about the dangers of smoking

30.2% had discussed in class, during the past year, reasons why people their age smoke

42.7% had been taught in class, during the past year, the effects of tobacco use

* n is less than 35

Highlights

  • Over one in ten students currently use any form of tobacco; 13.6% of the students currently smoke cigarettes; 10.3% currently use some other form of tobacco.
  • ETS exposure is high—a quarter of the students live in homes where others smoke, and 64% of the students are exposed to smoke around others outside of the home; nearly 30% of the students have a parent who smokes, and 8% have friends who smoke.
  • Almost 8 in 10 students think smoke from others is harmful to them.
  • More than half of the current smokers want to stop smoking.
  • Over 1 in 10 students were offered a free cigarette by a tobacco company representative.
  • Almost three fourths of the students saw anti-smoking media messages in the past 30 days; More than half of the students saw pro-cigarette ads in the past 30 days.

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

Return to Top

 

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