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HSPH Researchers Find Smoking Rate Rising Dramatically Among College Students
A new study has found a 28
percent increase in the tobacco smoking rate of college students between
1993 and 1997. Henry Wechsler, lecturer in the Department of Health
and Social Behavior is the lead author of an analysis published in the
November 18 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
The report is based upon data obtained through anonymous surveys given to approximately 15,000 students at 116 colleges in 39 states in both 1993 and 1997 as part of the College Health Alcohol Study. In 1993, 22% of the surveyed students indicated that they had smoked during the 30 days prior to the survey; in 1997 the percentage of smokers had risen to 28%.
The increased smoking rates were found in all types of colleges: public and private, residential and commuter, and in schools with small or large enrollments and those with all levels of academic competitiveness. Rates of smoking were found to be increasing faster in public schools than in private schools, and in schools located in the north central region of the country.
According to Wechsler, the results of this study are disturbing: "College students and people with college educations have traditionally smoked at lower levels than people not attending college. This rise in smoking among the most highly educated youth in America should be a wake-up call about the problem of smoking at all levels of society."
Henry Wechsler, lecturer in the Department of Health and Social Behavior, is the lead
author of a study printed in this week's JAMAthat documents an increase in smoking among college students.
The findings of increased
smoking rates correlate with the rise of adolescent smoking that
occurred in the 1990s. "The college students surveyed in 1997 were high
school seniors between 1993 and 1996, during which time high school
seniors' smoking prevalence rates rose," said Wechsler.
According to the authors, the data suggest that the rise in adolescent smoking in the 1990s was not a transient phenomenon, but one that persists in these recently discovered higher smoking rates, and one that will have significant, long-term implications for smoking related illnesses.
For many, college is a time to experiment with different lifestyles and habits, and this study shows the influence of this tendency in the formation of both smoking and nonsmoking habits. Over one quarter of the surveyed students reported starting to smoke while in college, while half of all college smokers reported trying to quit smoking within the previous year.
Study co-author Nancy Rigotti, director of tobacco research and treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital, sees these conflicting behaviors as a call to action: "During this time, many young people are starting to smoke regularly, while others are trying to quit. College offers a window of opportunity to intervene with strong cessation programs to prevent transition from occasional to regular, full-scale nicotine-dependent smoking. It's a time to teach smokers how and why to quit.
"Such interventions are more likely to be successful if they
are paired with environmental and policy changes that discourage
tobacco use," said Rigotti. "Colleges must expand smoke-free areas
and make sure that dormitories and other shared living quarters
are smoke free. Smoke-free areas not only eliminate second-hand
smoke, they limit the visibility and accessibility of cigarettes around
those who are trying to quit or are still only occasional smokers."
