The Communities That Care (CTC) youth survey has highlighted a number of issues facing adolescents across the south-west. Each week RACHAEL HOULIHAN will explore these problems and the people trying to find solutions.
The survey of more than 1200 students across 13 Warrnambool schools has found that youth smoking levels are low.
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Communities That Care co-ordinator Cameron Price said one in 40 grade six students in Warrnambool had tried a cigarette and only one smoked in the month before the survey.
“One in 16 local year eight students have ever tried a cigarette, which is half the national average for that age,” he said.
“Only one in 59 year eights smoked in the month before the survey, compared to a national average of one in 23 for that age.
“To put that in perspective, in a year eight level of 118 students in Warrnambool on average two students would have smoked within the last four weeks, compared to a national average of five students. Three in 10 year 10 students in Warrnambool have ever tried a cigarette and in a class of 23 on average three smoked in the last four weeks.”
Communities That Care Warrnambool aims to achieve three outcomes – improve education attainment, reduce alcohol and other drug use and reduce antisocial behaviour, each of which has five specific targets.
One of the 15 targets is to decrease the percentage of year 10 students who smoked tobacco within the 30 days prior to the CTC youth survey from baseline 13 per cent (2015) to 12 per cent by 2016 and 9 per cent by 2018.
“We have made significant progress as a nation and as a local community to lower the rates of smoking which in turn will lower the numbers of deaths and chronic disease. The goal now is to lower it further,” Mr Price said.
Quit Victoria director Dr Sarah White said she was pleased Warrnambool’s youth smoking rates were low.
“No matter how much people think teen smoking is an act of rebellion, kids mimic what they see,” she said.
“They don’t see smoking as a social norm. It shouldn’t be and it mostly isn’t for younger Victorians.”
Dr White said it was disappointing adults and in some cases parents, were helping young people become addicted to nicotine, by purchasing cigarettes for them.
“Part of the problem is that cigarettes, the leading preventable cause of death in Australia, can be sold by anyone, almost anywhere, which is absolutely the wrong message to send kids and helps no-one but the tobacco industry who are profiting from their sales,” she said.
“Cigarettes are available in more shops than milk and bread, let alone fresh fruit and vegetables, and that’s just wrong.”
