Cigarette smoking among college students
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (April 2013) |
The majority of lifelong smokers begin smoking habits before the age of 24, which makes the college years a critical time for tobacco companies to convince college students to pick up the habit of cigarette smoking.[1] Cigarette smoking in college is seen as a social activity by those who partake in it, and more than half of the students that are users do not consider themselves smokers.[2] This may be because most college students plan to quit smoking by the time that they graduate.[3]
The prevalence of cigarette smoking by college students increased through the 1990s, but has since leveled off and seen decreases in recent years.[4] Education on the dangers of cigarettes is seen as a leading cause for this decrease. This activity is being seen as less socially acceptable than it was in the past.[4]
Cigarette smoking on college campuses has become an important public health issue and there has been increase in campus wide smoking bans and other preventive programs to reduce the rates of students smoking. The cause of these bans are now starting to be discovered and there is controversy that goes along with implementing them across various schools in the United States.[5] Protests against smoking bans are seen as a possible threat at schools such as the University of Vermont and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.[5] Some smokers may also choose to neglect the bans and continue to smoke cigarettes regardless.[4]
Statistics
The percentage of college students that smoke has fluctuated greatly over the years. Studies in 1993 and 1997 showed that the percent of U.S. college students who smoked were 22 percent and 28 percent respectively. The Harvard School of Public Health concluded the percentage of college students who used tobacco products at least once a month was about 33 percent.[6]
A study points out that from 2002 to 2016 tobacco use among college students has decreased by 47.4%. [7] Most of the college students age 18-24.[8] For this particular age group, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 8 of 100 (8.0%) are currently smoking in 2019. [9]
Predictors associated with youth tobacco usage
Certain social, economic, and environmental factors can be associated with the prediction of youth and an increased use in tobacco. Risk factors include:[10]
- Lower socioeconomic status
- Having parents, close relatives, friends, or guardians that smoke
- Acceptance and positive views of smoking by peers
- Incompletion of higher levels of education
- High availability of and exposure to tobacco products
- Violent behavior
Stress and emotion
Students note that smoking cigarettes reduces
Weight loss
For women in particular, smoking is a tool for weight loss and weight management.
Variation of Smokers' Intelligent Quotient.
Research proves that smoking cigarettes lowers the potential of a person who's trying to learn new information as well as prevents them from properly and completely retrieving the information they already have but it doesn't necessarily stop smokers from creating new memories. Making things clearer, smoking cigarettes negatively affects retrospective memory but it neutral towards prospective memory. As a whole, these factors both have a bulk effect on smoker's IQs thus the IQ level is lowered because of the loss of retrospective memory.[15]
Field of study
Some studies suggest even a student’s
Social activity
Smoking is viewed, by some students, as a way to socialize and take study breaks.[18]
Social smokers
Today’s
Smoking and perceived gender disparities
Studies have shown that there are social differences in the smoking behaviors of males and females in college. In a 2006 study, qualitative analysis data showed that males and females have certain perceptions of their sex or the opposite sex smoking. From both male and female students’ perspectives, there were negative feelings towards women smoking and it was considered “unladylike”. However, if men were smoking, the perception was positive, and they were considered cool or gave off a “tough guy” image. In addition to drinking alcohol at parties, male students appeared in control if they had a cigarette in the other hand. Even though there were negative perceptions of female students smoking, smoking at parties is considered more of a female behavior rather than a male behavior. Despite negative perceptions of females smoking, students thought that when females smoke in groups of girlfriends it wasn’t trashy. Rather, when female students smoked in groups of girlfriends it appeared as though individual’s smoking habits were regulated by the group, instead of the individual’s dependence on nicotine. These perceived gender differences are inextricably linked with social environments where smoking and alcohol consumption occur. The perceptions of cigarette smoking in male and female students reflect similar perceptions of alcohol use in college students.[20]
Targeting by the tobacco industry
The tobacco industry is particularly concerned with younger audiences because they constitute the future of smoking and tobacco profits. In an insider document from Philip Morris written in 1981, the company states:
It is important to know as much as possible about teenage smoking patterns and attitudes. Today's teenager is tomorrow's potential regular customer, and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke while still in their teens... The smoking patterns of teenagers are particularly important to Philip Morris.[21]
Replacement smokers
The industry refers to new smokers as “replacement smokers” because they are in effect, replacing smokers who have quit or died, whether from smoking or other causes, over the years.
Alternative press
Tobacco companies use “alternative press” and
Smoking bans
Each year, approximately 440,000 deaths and $193 billion in
In the United States, the first smoking bans were made around the early twentieth century and have been increasing ever since. In 1973,
On the other hand, some students feel that these smoking bans violate their rights. The tobacco industry agrees that individuals should be able to avoid ETS or SHS, but believe that complete campus-wide bans "go too far".[29] A study from 2005 found that other forms of intervention to decrease the rates of tobacco use on campus, such as restriction of tobacco distribution and restriction of smoking within 20 feet from entrances weren’t as effective as other programs like smoking cessation programs in influencing college students’ smoking behaviors.[30] When prevention-oriented education was present on college campuses, students were 23% less likely to smoke compared to their peers who were not exposed to this kind of education.[30] In addition to campus wide smoking bans, other interventions include health promotion programs that teach students the benefits of avoiding smoking and environments with smoke and create a general healthy college community.[31]
References
- ^ "Research Reveals When and Why Students Smoke in Effort to Help Them Quit". medicine.missouri.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
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- ^ "Research Reveals When and Why Students Smoke in Effort to Help Them Quit". medicine.missouri.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
- ^ a b c "Do college campus smoking bans work? - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
- ^ a b "Smoking bans spark controversy". USA TODAY College. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
- ^ Schorr, Melissa. "A Third of College Students Smoke". ABC. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
- ^ Odani, S., Soura, B., Tynan, M., Lavinghouze, R., King, B., & Agaku, I. "Tobacco and Marijuana Use Among US College and Noncollege Young Adults, 2002–2016".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ National Center for Education Statistics. "Total fall enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by attendance status, sex, and age: Selected years, 1970 through 2026".
- ^ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (22 August 2022). "Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults in the United States".
- ^ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 1994
- ^ "Smokers' Brains Change in Response to High Levels of Nicotine". Mayo Clinic News Network. 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
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- ^ PMID 8186673.
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- ^ USJ Majors and Smoking Study 2012 (4)
- ^ S2CID 11451274.
- S2CID 11451274. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- S2CID 144633560.
- ^ Mackay J., & Eriksen M. (2002). The Tobacco Atlas. World Health Organization
- ^ a b c "Recruiting the Replacement Smoker | Handout". Archived from the original on 2010-10-24. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ PMID 11867322.
- PMID 32954060.
- ^ "Weekly report" (PDF). www.cdc.gov. November 13, 2009. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
- ^ "Smoking Bans - A History". Archived from the original on 2010-04-25. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Smoking's latest battleground: The college campus | StarTribune.com". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2009-08-24. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ Cruz, Gilbert (December 14, 2009). "Campus Smoking Bans? Some Saying 'Lighten Up'". Time – via content.time.com.
- ^ a b "More colleges stamp out smoking - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com.
- ^ PMID 16001977.
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