Medical and social predictors of tobacco smoking among the university youth

Abstract

Aim. To identify the specific features of the initiation and prevalence of tobacco smoking among students in higher education institutions. Material and Methods. The research was carried out as a student survey on the problem of tobacco use in the youth community. 1422 first-year students of four universities took part in the survey. The conducted survey is a multi-factor anonymous questionnaire, containing 48 multiple response questions. After the statistical analysis of the obtained data, we calculated the variables and their margins of error. Results and Discussion. The students believe that psychoactive substances use among university youth is a relevant problem in the context of following a healthy lifestyle (80.24±1.06%). Only 21.10±1.08% of respondents adhere to healthy lifestyle. The prevalence rate of tobacco smoking among the questioned students was 29.25±1.21%. The dominant part of the smokers noted that they received their primary smoking experience at school (60.58±2.40%). 29.09±2.23% of the students took up such negative practice at the university. 23.56±2.08% of the students named 'imitation of friends' as the main motivating reason for tobacco smoking, and 23.07±2.07% - 'stressful situation influence'. 41.77±2.24% of the respondents from the smoking families support this 'sad tradition'. 24.88±1.48% of young people from non-smoking families consume tobacco products. Of all the questioned students, 75.95±1.13% consider that the most effective means for prevention of harmful habits among youth is self-awareness. Conclusions. The decrease in the age at which the youth starts smoking was revealed, and the motivational predictors of smoking were defined. The relevance of implementation of continuous monitoring of the situation in the youth community is substantiated.

Keywords

• tobacco smoking, students, predictors, survey