Factors related to betel chewing among junior high school students in Taiwan

A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore the betel-chewing behavior of junior high school students in Taichung County in 1998. The sample consisted of 2244 students in the general area and 84 students in the aboriginal area. Fifty percent of the students in the aboriginal area had had the experience of chewing betel, and this figure includes 30.1% of the habitual chewers. The prevalence of habitual betel chewers among the students in the general area is 4.3% to 5.0%. The major source of betel quid is friends or classmates, and curiosity accounts for most students' first experience of betel chewing. Sixty percent of the students started betel chewing in elementary school. An effective health education program for students in the aboriginal area and younger students in the general areas as well as an evaluation procedure for the effectiveness of the program are needed to prevent the increase of betel chewing among Taiwan's youth.