Health Risks of Smoking

Introduction

Smoking is being addressed as one of the most common forms of recreational drug usage. Tobacco smoking can be considered as the most popular form of smoking that is being practised by over one billion people all over the world. There are several less common drugs addressed for smoking such as cannabis and opium. Some of these substances are being classified as hard narcotics that include heroin and various other illegal drugs, but the use of these things is very limited because these substances are not commercially available in the market (Roditis, Delucchi, Cash & Halpern-Felsher, 2016). Therefore, Cigarettes have been addressed primarily an industrially manufactured product, but it can also be hand-rolled with the help of loose tobacco as well as rolling paper. There are various other smoking tools used by a different individual as per the interests such as pipes, hookahs, cigars and bongs. These tools have been used through tobacco and various other substances. In the current lifestyle of people, smoking has been identified as the most common habit among both male and female. It has gained significant growth due to increase in level stress and peer pressure. Overall, it can be stated that smoking is bad for an individual’s health. It harms almost each and every organ of the human body. As per the different studies, smoking is being addressed as an important cause of one in five deaths in the United States. It also leads to various other cancers and health problems (Inoue-Choi and et al., 2017). It includes cancers such lung and oral cancers, Lung diseases like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and it also leads negative impact on the body by thickening of blood vessels that influences the high blood pressure, blood clots and stroke. Further investigation has found that smoking also promotes vision problems that include cataracts and macular degeneration (AMD). This impact of smoking is significantly higher among women because it leads to various issues during the pregnancy and their babies are also having a higher risk of dying due to emergence sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). It is identified that smoking also influences the addiction to nicotine that is identified as a stimulant drug within tobacco. Nicotine addiction makes it much harder for people to quit smoking (a and et al., 2019). For those seeking further insight, particularly in the context of public health research, healthcare dissertation help can provide valuable resources.

Smoking is also injuries for other people who are breathing the smoke of smokers. It is called as secondhand smoking and influences similar issues problems as smokers do. This includes heart problems along with lung cancer. Children identified as secondhand smoke are having a higher risk of ear infections, pneumonia, colds and severe asthma. Mothers who breathe secondhand smoke during the pregnancy could face several issues during the pregnancy (Chau and et, al., 2018). Therefore, the present study is focused on the analysis the perception of male and female individuals about smoking. For this purpose, the researcher has taken an equal sample of male and female participants to assess their responses about smoking practices and their impact on the overall human body.

Aim and Objectives

Aim

The aim of the present study is "To evaluate the difference in attitude towards smoking between genders."

Objectives

As per the aim of the present investigation, some essential research objectives are listed below for enhancing the effectiveness of research outcomes:

To evaluate the repercussions of smoking.

To compare the attitude towards smoking between genders.

The Rationale of the Study

The present investigation aims to evaluate the difference in attitude towards smoking between genders. The main reason behind the selection of the present research topic is that there have been several studies performed for analysing negative aspects of smoking along with its impact on health. However, the present study has paid particular emphasis on gender because it is deemed like the most important demographic factor that influences their perception among smoking practices (Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking, 2019). As per different studies, it is estimated that smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times along with chances of stroke by 2 to 4 times. In the context of men, it increases the occurrence of lung cancer by 25 times as compared to 25.7 times among females. In addition to that, it has been addressed that smoking causes diminished overall health also increased absenteeism from work as well as overall efficiency.

Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant difference in attitude towards smoking between genders.

H1: There is a significant difference in attitude towards smoking between genders.

Methods

Date collection

The smoking habit has recorded significant growth because these people consider smoking as a tool for stress management. Therefore the present study is tired to examine the attitude of people based on gender towards smoking practices (Flick, 2015). For the purpose, different sources of information have been considered by a researcher for generating reliable data about the subject matter, but consideration of the primary source of information has been seen as the most appropriate approach of data collection in which the researcher has acquired first-hand data by filling a questionnaire from customers (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2017). A systematic questionnaire is formulated that contains 15 questions based on smoking that is asked to both male and female.. Therefore, it can be stated that the questionnaire is being addressed as an excellent tool for analysing the perception of participants about the subject matter. A sample size of 40 participants has been taken for assessing responses in which 20 participants were male, and 20 were female.

Method of data analysis

Concerning research goals, the researcher has considered the questionnaire as a primary source of information. For analysing the respondents gained from, descriptive statistics are considered to assess correlation among different variables. Different tools of SPSS are preferred to generate appropriate research findings. As per the 15 questions asked in the questionnaire, a summative attitude score is developed through which comparison of attitude toward smoking between genders is performed. For this purpose, t-test has been applied to generate appropriate findings (Quinlan, Babin, Carr & Griffin, 2019). By using different statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, independent t-test, etc., the researcher is influential to gain insights about the subject matter concerning views of individuals based on gender so as appropriate results and findings are produced to meet study goals.

Results

As per the above table, there were 20 males in group 1 and 20 females in group 2

Reliability Analysis

To determine the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach’s Alpha test was applied. As per the Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Statistics, the Cronbach’s Alpha comes out to be -063. As per thumb rule, if the Cronbach’s Alpha is less than 0.70, the questionnaire is assumed to be unreliable. So in this case, the questionnaire is unreliable as negative average covariance among the items is violating the assumptions of reliability model.

Independent T-Test

In order to determine the attitude difference between the two groups (males and females), independent t-test was performed. The results of the independent t-test are as follows:

As per the above table, the mean attitude score for males towards smoking is coming out to be 48.00 (SD = 3.16), and the mean attitude score for females towards smoking is coming out to be 48.75 (SD = 2.24). This shows that the mean attitude score towards smoking is higher for females as compared to males. That is, females more feel that smoking is a bad habit and is injurious to health and should be stopped. However, whether this difference is significant or not that can be decided from the independent sample test table below:

As per independent sample test, t(38) = -0.865; p = 0.393. Since the p-value or the significance value is coming out to be 0.393, which is greater than the critical alpha value of 0.05, it can be said that there is no statistically significant difference in mean attitude score towards smoking between males and females. That means, both the genders equally feel that smoking is a bad habit and is injurious to health and should be stopped.

Discussion

As per the above assessment, there is no significant difference addressed among attitude of people about smoking habits. This is because people associated with both genders feel that smoking is not good for health because it is identified as an important cause of various serious health problems. The argument is supported by findings of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. This study has determined that Cigarette smoking leads to negative health effect on every organ of the body and it also addressed an important cause of many diseases (Kelly, 2017). Therefore, quitting smoking is being addressed as an only tool for lowering the smoking-related diseases and other health issues. As per the research of Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, Cigarette smoking is being addressed as a leading preventable cause of death within the United States that causes more than 480,000 deaths each year only in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths. In addition to that, it has found that smoking causes more deaths that are significantly higher than deaths occurred from several other diseases such as Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Illegal drug use, Alcohol usage, Motor vehicle accidents and Firearm-related incidents. This investigation has determined that smoking is termed as an important cause of around 90% of all lung cancer-based deaths that are higher than women died from breast cancer. In addition to that smoking causes about 80% of total deaths that have been occurred due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking, 2019). Therefore, it can be stated that smoking plays an important role in increasing the risk of death from all causes within men and women. In addition to that, the risk of dying from cigarette smoking has gained significant growth in the last 50 years. These findings have played important role in influencing the attitude among people, and people associated with both gender think that smoking is identified as an important cause of various health issues (Jamal, 2016).

The present investigation has focused on gender to identify the difference in the attitude of people about smoking. This is because there are significant changes addressed in smoking patterns. This is because the numbers of women smoker are dramatical. In this context, the research of Kowalczy and et al. (2017) has determined that there is a dramatic decrease identified within the difference in the numbers of a male and female smoker in recent years. This is because the number of female smokers is greatly enhanced. In this regards, the study of WHO on youth smoker has found that similar numbers of girls and boys are having smoking habits as per the survey conducts in half of the 151 countries. Further investigation has determined that most of these girls and boys have managed continuity in smoking practices until adulthood (10 facts on gender and tobacco, 2010). Apart from that Bans on tobacco advertising with reference to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has found very effective for controlling the increase in tobacco users among girls.

Lancaster & Stead (2017) argued that Boys and girls start using tobacco as well as considering smoking for different reasons. In this context, girls are having the false belief that smoking is a very effective way for controlling the weight. Further research has determined that low self-esteem is associated with smoking among girls, and other evidence of some developed countries presented that girls are having lower self-esteem in comparison of boys. Therefore, different tobacco control strategies must be focused on the boys' and girls' decisions for starting the use of tobacco. This is because these habits are influenced by different cultural, psychosocial and socioeconomic factors (Stead, Carroll & Lancaster, 2017). In addition to that, all these factors have played a critical role in influencing the attitude of individuals belongs from different gender about negative aspects of smoking.

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