Abstract
Objective: To examine the association of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure with susceptibility to smoking, perceived addiction, and psychobehavioral effects of exposure among never- and ever-smoking college students. Participants: Participants were 665 college students at a large, southeastern university in the United States. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of online cross-sectional survey data from randomly selected students in April 2013. Results: Thirty-eight percent of the sample had moderate to high SHS exposure. Among never-smokers, SHS exposure was associated with increased susceptibility to initiating smoking. Among ever-smokers, SHS exposure was not associated with their perceived addiction to tobacco. In the total sample, SHS exposure was associated with greater psychobehavioral symptoms of exposure. Conclusions: SHS exposure may the increase risk of smoking, especially among never-smoking college students. This study strengthens the need for prevention strategies that limit SHS exposure in college environments.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 96-103 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of American College Health |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 17 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The project described was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through grant number UL1TR000117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
- Behavioral symptoms
- cigarette addiction
- college students
- secondhand smoke
- smoking susceptibility
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
