Behavior and attitudes towards smoking among teachers in Turkey

AimInvestigation of the attitudes of teachers who smoke and those who do not smoke is important in terms of their status for being a role model for their students and for intervention and prevention of smoking in a society. This study investigated the behavior and attitudes about smoking among teachers in a province (Sanlurfa) in Turkey.Subjects and methodsThe data were collected from 546 teachers from public schools. The participants consisted of 291 female (53.3%) and 255 male (46.7%) teachers. These data were collected by convenience sampling. We used the attitude scale towards smoking.ResultsThis study indicates that half of the participants were smokers and there were more male smokers than female smokers. Smoker teachers had more positive inclination towards smoking than the non-smokers. Male teachers displayed more favorable attitudes towards smoking than female teachers.ConclusionThe attitude of teachers towards smoking varied according to their cigarette smoking status. Their behavior and attitudes about smoking corresponded well with cognitive dissonance theory.