Relationship Between Tobacco Use and Mental Health Among Adolescents in Kuwait

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between the use of tobacco and the mental health status among adolescents in Kuwait. This study used a data from the Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS), which has been used to periodically monitor the prevalence of important mental health and protective factors related to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity among adolescents including tobacco use.

The results indicate that tobacco does indeed influence mental health, particularly teenagers whose brains are still developing and have an influx in hormones, making mental health more likely and smoking a more attractive coping mechanism to deal with problems and emotions. Since a major focus of this study includes tobacco use and its relation to mental health, Cross tabulations were performed to assess the relationships, and it was determined that a significant relationship does exist between tobacco and several variables including worrying to the point of sleep interference, feeling lonely, and feeling suicidal.

Further research should exist also in terms of how to reduce the stigma of receiving mental health care in Kuwait and other Arab countries, so that individuals can be treated for mental disorders, depression, and anxiety. This may reduce the likelihood of smoking as a coping mechanism, as mental health care could provide more effective and healthier coping mechanisms than smoking cigarettes or the waterpipe.