Smoking in the Household Survey Results
Personal data:
| Female - 42 | Male - 45 |
1. How many members are in your household?
| Number in Household | Students |
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 13 |
| 4 | 33 |
| 5 | 19 |
| 6 | 13 |
| 7 | 1 |
| 8 | 2 |
| 9 | 1 |
| 10 | 0 |
2. Do any members of your family smoke?
| Yes | 48% (41) |
| No | 52% (44) |
* 2 of the 87 surveys were not completed.
3. Will you follow that person's lead when you are old enough to smoke?
| Parent smokes/I won't smoke | 33/41 (81%) |
| Parent smokes/I will smoke | 3/41 (7%) |
| Parent smokes/Not sure if I will | 5/41 (12%) |
| Parent doesn't smoke/I won't smoke | 15/44 (34%) |
| Parent doesn't smoke/I will smoke | 26/44 (59%) |
| Parent doesn't smoke/Not sure I will | 3/44 (7%) |
4. Why do you think people start smoking?
| Peers encourage | 29% (30) |
| Do it to be cool | 35% (36) |
| Relaxes nerves | 25% (26) |
| Others (Please write reason) | 11% (11) |
5. Do you believe smokers have the right to smoke in public places?
| Yes | 22% (19) |
| No | 60% (52) |
| Unsure | 17% (15) |
6. In response to question 5, why do you feel this way?
Most responses in the negative were attributed to health or personal rights.
Smoking Analysis 1995
The smoking survey was completed by eighty-five of eighty-seven sixth-grade Cat Team students who participated in the survey. I wanted to see what students were thinking about smoking cigarettes and whether students were going to follow their family members foot-steps. While the survey did reveal some significant facts, I believe question 3 could have been misinterpreted by some of the students participating in the survey. If so, part of the survey findings would be invalid. And, no one could answer question 2 with a 1 as you can't be a parent and a sixth-grade student.
The survey revealed that 56% or forty-eight of eighty-five students stated that they were not going to smoke. This is very close to the family members ratio of 52% who do not smoke (see pie graph below).
Twenty-nine of eighty-five students or 35% stated they were going to smoke. Only 9% percent or eight of eighty-five students were undecided about smoking. Therefore, 91% or seventy-six of the eighty-five students completing the survey have already made their decision about smoking.
However, a very significant finding is that about 81% or thirty-three of the forty-one students who have a family member or more that smokes stated that they will not smoke.
Only 7% or three out of forty-one students who have a family member that smokes stated that they will smoke him/her self. And, 12% or five out of forty-one students who have a family member who smokes were undecided about the issue.
On the other hand, 59% or twenty-six of forty-four students that have no family members smoking stated that they will smoke. I found this to be very interesting and possibly incorrect as some of the students who answered both questions 2 and 3 with a no response may not have realized that they were actually indicating that they were going to smoke. I thought some of the students who answered question number 3 with a no response were actually indicating they were not going to smoke. If so, more than 56% of sixth-grade Cat students are not planning to smoke. Fifteen of the forty-four students or 34% who have no family members smoking stated that they will not smoke either. And, three out of forty-four or 7% of the students who have no family members smoking indicated they were unsure whether they would smoke or not.
The reasons given for why people smoke were fairly well divided between peer encouragement 29% and to do it to be cool 35%. 25% of the students stated people smoke because it relaxes the nerves. Since relaxes the nerves is more of an adult response this would indicate that adults do influence their children about smoking.
The majority, 61% of the student believed that smokers do not have the right to smoke in public places. Only 22% or nineteen students stated people had this right while 17% or fifteen students responded they were unsure. (Please see pie chart below)
If I did this survey again, I will have to word my questions better. To check my opinion out about question 3 (see paragraph 4) I had a follow-up question asking if the student smoked or were planning to smoke in the future. All seventy-six students who completed this questions stated they did not smoke nor did they plan on smoking in the smoking. Therefore, I don't believe I really found out if the students were smoking or planning to smoke in the future.
Smoking Survey by Jennifer Coffman. 1995
