Tobacco addiction in textbooks from 16 countries: physical, psychological and social effects

Abstract

Smoking is a serious society problem that affects persons physically, psychologically and socially. The textbook is strongly rooted in school education and works like a "screen" that links the space between the pupil and the external reality. It provides pupils with handy information, well structured and systematized contents, in order to facilitate them to build their own learning. In this context, a comparative analysis of the information conveyed by textbooks from the 16 countries was carried out. They differ for their geographical distribution and their historical, political and socio-cultural development: 12 European countries (Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania), 3 from Africa (Morocco, Mozambique and Senegal) and 1 from the Middle East (Lebanon). Results showed that Morocco is the only country which textbooks do not address the smoking issue. Only 11 countries present the three dimensions of tobacco consumption (physical, psychological and social effects), some omit the psychological dimension, others the social one and others both. The Finnish textbook is the one presenting the smoking issue in a rather balanced way. The results show differences in political, cultural and curriculum with regard to the way textbooks of different countries explore the tobacco problematic.