COLLEGE STUDENTS AND SMOKING

College and university students are especially vulnerable when they are placed in a new, often stressful social and academic environment. For many, the college years are their initial taste of freedom from daily parental supervision. Smoking may begin earlier, but most college students are a part of the significant age group in which people initiate smoking and become hooked.

A recent study found that cigarette smoking among U.S. college students increased by 32 percent between 1991 and 1999. In 1999, researchers surveyed more than 14,000 students from 119 U.S. colleges. This poll took into account all types of tobacco use, including cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe smoking, rather than just cigarettes. Researchers found that cigarette smoking rates had not changed between 1997 and 1999; however, more than 60 percent of college students had tried some tobacco product. One third of students had used tobacco in the month before the study, and just under half had used tobacco in the past year. Among current smokers, the survey found that 32 percent smoked less than a cigarette a day, and 13 percent smoked a pack or more per day. Furthermore, the study found students who used tobacco products were more likely to smoke marijuana, do binge drinking, have multiple sex partners, earn lower grades, rate parties as more important than academic activities, and spend more time socializing with friends.

A common perception on many college campuses is that students are not interested in smoking cessation efforts or that students perceive themselves to be occasional smokers who can quit whenever they want. However, a recent study reported that 70 percent of cigarette smokers had tried to quit smoking. Unfortunately, 3 out of 4 were still smokers. It is important that colleges and universities engage in antismoking efforts, strictly control tobacco advertising, provide smoke-free residence halls, and offer greater access to smoking cessation programs.

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