About 28.8 percent of college students have smoked cigarettes, according to a fall 2009, survey of 34,208 collegians by the American College Health Association. Although college students are "much less likely to smoke" than people who don't attend college, 85 percent of student health center directors at 393 colleges consider student smoking a problem, reports the college textbook "An Invitation to Health." Young smokers are more likely to become tobacco addicts and experience other long-term problems associated with smoking.
Tobacco Use
About 13.8 percent of college students smoked cigarettes in the 30 days before they were surveyed and another 15 percent smoked cigarettes before that, according to the American College Health Association's survey. Males are more likely to have smoked cigarettes than females--31.3 to 27.3 percent. In addition, about 24.8 percent of collegians--28.4 percent of males and 22.6 percent of females--have smoked tobacco from a water pipe. Statistics on cigars and smokeless tobacco were lumped into "all other drugs combined" and weren't specified.
Tobacco Addiction
College students often misjudge tobacco's addictiveness and falsely think they can quit before they are at greater risk of cancer. Smoking, though, "may trigger changes in DNA that put young people at higher risk for cancer even if they later quit," according to "An Invitation to Health." There is some good news--students treated for addiction to nicotine, the addictive product in tobacco, are more likely to be nonsmokers six months to five years later than students who try to quit without help.
Significance
College students who use tobacco have lower grades than those who don't, according to "An Invitation to Health." They also behave differently and have different attitudes about campus life. Tobacco users are more likely to have a drinking problem, smoke marijuana and have a permissive sex life. They also spend more time socializing with friends than nonsmokers, attend more parties and go to fewer athletic events and religious services.
Student Life
College freshmen who didn't smoke regularly were 40 percent more likely to "take up smoking" if they lived in dorms where smoking was permitted, according to a survey of 4,495 students at 101 schools that was published in Journal of American College Health in 2001. The survey also reported that about 44 percent of college students lived in dorms banning smoking and another 29 percent wanted to. More colleges are banning smoking in dormitories because of evidence that smokers harm nonsmokers and induce them to smoke, "An Invitation to Health" reported.
Expert Advice
The American College Health Association recommends that colleges take several steps to reduce the percentage of college students who use tobacco. It believes that colleges should prohibit smoking by everyone, including students, in all residential areas, dining facilities, classrooms, libraries, gyms and offices. Colleges should also have programs that teach students about tobacco's dangers, launch programs that help them quit, and prohibit tobacco companies from sponsoring campus events, and advertising, selling and giving away their products on campus, the association recommends.
References
- American College Health Association: National College Health Assessment
- "An Invitation to Health"; Dianne Hales; 2003
- Mayo Clinic: Secondhand Smoke: Evidence Proves Ill Effects
