Social influences on cigarette initiation among college students

Objectives: To examine the relationship of demographic and social influence with initiation of cigarette use among undergraduates. Methods: Students were mailed anonymous surveys including 437 participants who indicated that they had not smoked cigarettes before age 18. Of those, 107 became late initiators (24%), and 330 remained never smokers (76%). Results: Those who drank alcohol in college and had at least 1 parent with a college education were more likely to initiate smoking than were those who did not drink and neither parent had attended college. Conclusions: Strategies that focus on reducing alcohol and tobacco use need to be tested.