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Newshawk: taima.org
Pubdate: Sunday, 19 March 2000
Source: Japan Times (Tokyo)
Contact: opinion@japantimes.co.jp
Copyright: © 2000 Japan Times
Website: http://www.japantimes.co.jp
Study links smoking to success in school
HIROSHIMA (Kyodo)
University students who smoke are more likely to fail to move on to the next grade than their nonsmoking counterparts, according to a survey released Saturday.
A research team headed by Hiroshi Kawane, assistant professor at Kawasaki Mediclal School in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, surveyed over 420 students at the school from 1996 to 1999 to study the relationship between smoking and learning ability.
Of all the surveyed students, 42.9 percent were smokers. The ratios for male and female students respectively stood at 54.5 percents and 16.4 percent.
Among male students, 79.2 percent who had at least once failed to achieve promotion to the next school level were smokers, the survey found. Among those who have never failed, 41.9 percent smoke regularly, the survey found.
For female students, the smoker ratio for successful students stood at 13.1 percent compared to 31.8 percent for unsuccessful ones.
The survey suggests that the hazards of smoking extend beyond physical damage.
"There are many factors leading to a student's failure in moving on to the next grade, so we cannot determine for sure," Kawane said, "but there seems to be a certain link between smoking and learning ability."
The research team plans to present the result of its study to a meeting of respiratory organ experts to start here on Wednesday.
Japan Times, Tokyo
2000.03.19
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