Abstract
Objective: Between February and March 2003, the authors examined college students' willingness to help a smoker quit and assessed demographic and psychosocial characteristics associated with willingness to help. Participants: Survey respondents were 701 college students (474 women, 227 men) aged 18 to 24 years who indicated there was someone close to them whom they thought should quit smoking. Methods: Respondents completed measures of willingness to help. The authors used multivariate logistic regression analysis to examine respondent characteristics associated with willingness to help. Results: About half (54%; n = 381) reported that they "definitely would" be interested in helping this smoker quit. Characteristics significantly associated with willingness to help were lower levels of perceived stress, being a non-tobacco user, concern for a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse who smoked, and more severe levels of distress caused by this person's smoking. Conclusions: A high percentage of college students are willing to help a smoker. Future studies are needed to engage college students who are nonsmokers in tobacco control efforts, including the Healthy Campus 2010 initiatives to reduce smoking among college students.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 273-280 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of American College Health |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2008 |
Keywords
- College students
- Smoking
- Smoking cessation
- Social support
- Tobacco
- Young adults