Nearly Half of College Students Used Tobacco in One-Year Period
The first national study to report on both cigarette and non-cigarette tobacco use by college students finds that nearly one-half of college students reported using tobacco products in the previous year. The study is reported in the August 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and was conducted by researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) College Alcohol Study. By including the use of cigars and smokeless tobacco, the study finds a greater prevalence of tobacco use among college students than have previous reports that looked only at cigarette use.
The study is based on responses from a nationally representative sample of more than 14,000 college students surveyed in 1999. The study survey asked students whether they had smoked a cigarette, cigar, pipe, or used smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days or in the past 12 months.
Although about 28 percent of both male and female students were current cigarette smokers, total tobacco use was much higher among males. The study shows that the difference is almost entirely due to males' much higher use of cigars. Over one-third of college students have ever smoked a cigar, including more than half of males and one quarter of females.
"We've left college students exposed to the most addictive drug on the planet by focusing our concern only on those under 18," said Henry Wechsler, director of the HSPH College Alcohol Study and lecturer on social psychology in the Department of Health and Social Behavior.
For more information
on the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, go to www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas.
