The department of health has expressed concern about the rise in the number of women smokers. This has resulted due to the increase in the number of girls under the age of 15 suffering from various psychological problems such as low self-esteem and depression. According to the Bureau of Health Promotion about 4.76 % of women over the age of 18 smoke regularly.
Deputy Director of the health department Wang Hsiu-hong said that there is an increase in the number of smoking-related illnesses. People are also affected by passive smoking. He also pointed out to the fact that cigarette companies are targeting women which is an added reason for the increase in female smokers.Statistics show that about 54.20 % of women smokers wanted to quit and 37.29 % of the women were exposed to secondhand smoke at home and 25.54 % at work. An alarming issue is that about 4.2% of the junior high school girls smoke. Chang Ching-ching a professor in the department of advertising at National Chengchi University conducted a survey in which she found that about 5.1% of the high school girls are smokers. It was also found that the smokers mostly came from blue-collar families, had strained parent-child relationships, were depressed and had low self-esteem. Hence women (girl) smokers are mainly affected by psychological issues and needed more support from parents and teachers.
