Smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of preventable death for Americans (Hahn et al., 2009). Together, smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke cause more than 443,000 premature deaths each year (MMWR, 2008). Young people are at an increased risk to start smoking, and college students are no exception (Rigotti, Regan, Moran, Wechsler, 2003). Identifying variables with strong relationships to tobacco usage is vital in producing effective youth cessation programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether college smokers who otherwise demonstrate healthy lifestyle behaviors, choose to disregard the positive impact of healthy behavior, and smoke at similar rates as college smokers who demonstrate unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.
Method:
Secondary data from the American College Health Association’s bi-yearly National College Health Assessment was used for this study. This assessment/survey encompasses college students’ habits, behaviors, and perceptions regarding prevalent health topics. The sample for this study consisted of 14,515 college students who identified themselves as having smoked within the last 30 days. Fruit and vegetable intake per day, days per week of vigorous exercise, Body Mass Index, and exercisers trying to lose weight were the healthy lifestyle choices this study related to smoking behavior.
Analysis/Results:
Data analysis initially began with descriptive statistics. Within this sample, demographic information was analyzed. Linear multiple regression revealed 1) college students who ate zero fruits and vegetables per day were likely to smoke 2.31 more days per month than those who ate five or more per day, 2) for every day per week a smoker partook in vigorous exercise, they smoked 0.76 days fewer per month, 3) for every one unit increase in participants Body Mass Index, an increase of 0.06 in days smoked per month can be expected, 4) college students who are not currently exercising to lose weight smoke 2.11 more days per month than those students who are currently exercising to lose weight. Overall, the majority of healthy lifestyle choices considered in this study significantly impacted the amount of days per month a college smoker, smoked cigarettes.
Conclusions:
The goal of this study was to illustrate the impact healthy behavior choices had on smoking behavior among college students who smoked cigarettes. This study illustrated a number of health behaviors that had a significant relationship to the number of days college smokers, smoked cigarettes. The information from this study is intended to help educators create insight driven programs relating to tobacco usage.