There are lots of scientific studies out there to support the notion that the more poorly educated in the world are more likely to smoke. It seems the more education you have, the less likely you are to be a smoker. Therefore, it seemed only natural to research how smoking adolescents fair in school compared to their non-smoking counterparts.
The Journal of School Health published a study that looked at academic success (or failure) of 10 to 16 year old government school students in India. They defined academic failure as having to repeat the same grade level once or twice. The study included over 6,300 students between 2004 and 2006.
The researchers found a significantly greater failure rate amongs students who used tobacco versus those who were nonusers. Tobacco users included those who chewed tobacco and smoked cigarettes and/or bidis. So students who reported tobacco use in 2004 were much more likely to fail a grade by the year 2006, than those who did not use tobacco products.
This brings up the question: does smoking make you more likely to fail academically or do poor performing students just so happen to smoke? Very much a chicken or the egg argument, I know. But certainly a matter that needs further investigation. While we're thinking about this, ponder these smoking facts.
