This annual report - Taranaki District Health Board

Note 2: Questionnaires are self-administered and cover demographic variables as well as smoking-relatedissues. Survey forms with instructions are mailed to all secondary schools and teachers supervise thecompletion of the questionnaires by students. It has been suggested that such a design means it is not alwaysclear how the sample has been selected and how consistently the survey has been administered, however, thelarge sample size and annual frequency makes the survey useful for monitoring smoking behaviour of Year 10students in New Zealand, and a useful tool for understanding trends and risk factors for smoking initiation[111].Note 3: In 2000 and 2001, over 70% of schools in NZ participated and of these, 70% of enrolled students tookpart [119]. Since then however, participation rates have declined, with school response rates being 67% in2002, 66% in 2003, 65% in 2004, 58% in 2005, 57% in 2006, 47% in 2007 and 54% in 2008. In 2008,compared to the national Year 10 population, Māori, and low decile schools were underrepresented. Thisunderrepresentation is likely to systematically bias the results of later surveys, with the proportion of youngpeople living with parents who smoke, or in a home with smoking inside, likely to be increasingly underrepresentedin these figures [112].All of the data in this section was downloaded from http://www.ash.org.nz/?t=157New Zealand Distribution and TrendsNew Zealand TrendsIn New Zealand during 1999–2011 the proportion of Year 10 students who were dailysmokers declined, from 15.6% in 1999 to 4.1% in 2011. Similarly, the proportion who hadnever smoked increased, from 31.6% in 1999 to 70.4% in 2011 (Figure 98).Gender and EthnicityIn New Zealand during 1999–2011, daily smoking rates for Māori and Pacific studentswere higher for females, while rates for Asian students were higher for males. There werealso marked ethnic differences in daily smoking during this period, with rates beingconsistently higher for Māori > Pacific > European and Asian students (Figure 96). Dailysmoking rates declined for students of all ethnic groups during 1999–2011 however, withrates falling from 30.3% to 10.3% for Māori students, 19.9% to 5.9% for Pacific students,from 12.9% to 2.4% for European students and from 7.0% to 1.2% for Asian students.Gender and Socioeconomic StatusIn New Zealand during 1999–2011, daily smoking rates were higher for students attendingschools in the most deprived (deciles 1–3) > average (deciles 4–7) > least deprived(deciles 8–10) areas. While gender differences were again evident, these diminished asthe level of deprivation decreased, with the higher female smoking rates seen in the mostdeprived schools, virtually disappearing in the least deprived schools (Figure 97). Dailysmoking rates declined for students of all socioeconomic groups during 1999–2011however, with rates falling from 23.5% to 9.6% for students from schools in the mostdeprived areas, from 16.2% to 4.6% for schools in average areas, and from 11.8% to 1.9%for students from schools in the least deprived areas.Midland Region Distribution and TrendsIn all of the DHBs in the Midland Region during 1999–2011, the proportion of Year 10students who were daily smokers declined, while the proportion who had never smokedincreased. In the Bay of Plenty, Lakes DHB and Tairawhiti, the proportion of students whowere daily smokers was generally higher than the New Zealand rate, while the proportionwho had never smoked was lower. In the Waikato and Taranaki, rates for both measureswere more similar to the New Zealand rate (Figure 98).Tobacco Use in Young People - 213