Smoking among College Students - Research Paper Example

INTRODUCTION Smoking has become increasingly common amongst the college during the recent years. are usually found smoking within the college premises while socializing with their friends, during the breaks or after the college. Surprisingly, most of these students are aware of the adverse effects of smoking on their health, but they still don't give it up. According to a survey the number of young smokers who fall between the age group of 15-25 has almost doubled during the last 10 years. According to the doctors report smoking increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, lungs cancer and miscarriage. Studies have revealed that over 400,000 people die each year because of diseases caused by smoking. It is important to know the actual motives behind smoking before taking any kind of preventive action. Most of the people start smoking during their teenage due to peer pressure or need for approval by their friends. Some youngsters also believe that smoking actually helps them keep in shape and have self-control, while others say it makes them look cool. According to the statistical data, the rate of smoking has increased by 30 % during 1993-1997 amongst the college students. Studies show that the measures which can be taken by the colleges authorities in order to reduce the level of smoking amongst the young students. Experts believe that taking preventive measures is better than abrupt prohibition from smoking which can cause the opposite effect on the students. The high rate of smoking among college students can be explained by aggressive advertising and promotional activities aimed to increase the size of the market. The glamorous ads casting handsome and beautiful models, actually tempts the youngsters to smoke. Tobacco industry focuses on sales promotion more than any other industry in the world. Companies spend a huge amount of investment to reach adolescents. Adolescents, of 18-24 years, become the main target market for the tobacco industry. The companies distribute free cigarettes outside the concerts and college clubs in order to attract more and more people towards their brands. The industry has also involved the youngster in the promotional activities. These kinds of aggressive promotion activities have drawn a huge number of younger lots to smoking. Promotional activities in bars and night clubs were started during 1980s. The level of tobacco consumption among students was indistinct, but the some field researches show that nearly every college student was involved in those promotional activities during 1990s. It has been predicted that the college students will become main consumers of tobacco in the next few years. The tobacco companies launch their promotional campaign mostly in the urban localities, trying to trap the young consumers through various advertising medium and techniques. Even the students who don't have enough exposure to the bars and night clubs can be influenced by the heavy advertising by different brands. For instance, Asian American students have become the main target for many promotional campaigns aiming to find new customers. University Health Centers can help to prevent and reduce smoking rate by educating the students about the diseases caused by smoking. Smoking should also be strictly prohibited within the college premises. Psychologists have deduced the various ways to control smoking habits within the younger students by providing different psychological treatments for quitting smoking. They have also worked upon finding the relation between smoking and media exposure of the individuals. Further in their research works psychologists have also tried to analyze the factors which can contribute to motivate or de-motivate individuals from smoking. The previous studies have classified smokers by their age, gender and race and have provided the statistical data accordingly. The main theme of the paper is to examine the relation which exists between smoking and factors such as the peer pressure, stress and depression. METHODOLOGY University of California at Irvine campus caf and Lang son library areas were chosen to conduct the research. The caf has both indoor and outdoor areas. This is a socializing spot for the students where they sit together and talk. It is a nice shady place for hanging out with friends. The place is covered by huge trees across the borders. There is a wide walkway near the caf which is used mostly by students and college workers. Since it is located close to the bookstore, many people come there during their lunchtime. The interviews of the students were conducted outside the library. These students who fell within the age group of 18-25 were unfamiliar to me and this very fact contributed to an appropriate atmosphere for the research and brought objectivity to my conclusions. I divided the group participants according to their gender, irrespective of smokers or non-smokers. The responses were marked accordingly regardless of their races. I also interviewed people who already quit smoking and those who were trying to quit smoking. I picked up student randomly from the crowd and interviewed them. During the interviews the marked the responses simultaneously. My sample size consisted of 20 people 6 of them were females and 14 were males. 10 open ended questions were designed to ask from the students. The complete questions list has been shown in appendix 'A'. I conducted each and every interview individually and noted the answers. In order to keep confidentiality, I used pseudonyms for interviewees. RESULTS According to the research results, males demonstrated a higher tendency for becoming smoker than females. Twenty students were observed and interviewed. Only five students among the sample were non-smokers. 5 males were regular smokers. The conclusion was not only drawn from the students who were interviewed but also from the observing the students who were present at the cafeteria. It was observed that 40% of the females had smoking habit, 20% of the females had started smoking during their high school. It was also discovered the rate at which they smoked had also increased with time. On the other hand most of the guys started smoking during their early teenage. There were very few guys who started smoking in the university. Most of them consumed one to two packs of cigarette per day. They admitted that the number of smokes have almost tripled from what they took initially. It was also discovered that most of the students started smoking due to the peer pressure. Other reasons for smoking included over coming depressing and portraying a self image. One of the students, named Elizabeth, used the word "excite" to describe her feeling when she first smoked. It was too early for a fifteen years old girl to smoke, but she was happy about what she did. It made her feel more like an adult. It was also found some student started smoking because of their friend who offered them cigarettes while they smoked in their presence. Students felt more accepted by their friends when they smoked. This proves that the peer group has a great influence on smoking habits. It was found to be a common believe amongst the students that smoking have a relaxing effect and gives a release to the nerves. Many students related smoking with maturity. Some students started smoking because they were unhappy with the kind of treatment their families gave to them and felt rebellious toward their family norms. Some parents expected too much out of their children and put them into pressure which also motivated the student to indulge into unethical practices to break the anxiety their parents kept them under. In some cases students said they wanted to discover the new things, they wanted to try everything out in life. The curiosity was the main factor for these kinds of students which motivated them to smoke. Some of the students quit smoking because they realized the adverse effects of smoking on their health. These were the students who were more conscious about their physical appearance and health. Most of them included young girls. Out of the sample size of 20 students only two people quit smoking .Few of them were trying to quit, while others had no intentions of quitting smoking. Some of them tried to quit smoking but failed to do so due to the craving for smoking before sleep and after meals. Three of the students reported that they have difficulty concentrating on their work when they don't smoke. Some students complained that the absence of nicotine puts them under stress. Half of the females told that they did not like smoking because smoking destroys their image in front of guys. According to a girl guys usually don't think very highly of the girls who smoke. Many students agreed that the support of family and friends can help them to quit smoking. Family and friend can provide courage to the students to stop smoking in various ways. Students who quit smoking reported that their physical condition had improved drastically. They could run for miles and miles without panting. Their morning cough syndrome improved and their mouth smelled fresher. In addition to that they saved a lot of money which they spent on buying the packs of cigarettes. Some of them said that their complexion, color of their nails and skin improved after they quit smoking. James, who had been smoking from a long time, told that he tried to quit smoking two years ago but failed. His girl friend motivated him to quit smoking. Unfortunately, both of his parents were smokers. It was very hard for him to quit smoking, because once he got home the house was full of cigarettes' smell. He could not resist the temptation to smoke. His motivation died only after two weeks and he started smoking again. DISCUSSION Stress, portraying a self image and peer pressure are found to be the indisputable causes of smoking among the young college students. Most of the students have been found to start smoking from their early adolescent. This age is a psychological, biological and social transition period for the youngster and most of them usually find smoking very tempting during the same phase of life. Family and friends can help support the young students to quit smoking. Researchers must find new ways to stop youngsters from smoking. The schools and colleges should launch a campaign against the smoking habits and should educate students about the adverse effects of smoking on their health. College Medical Centers should organize rally against cigarette advertising in every quarter or semester and discourage the sales of cigarettes in campus. Colleges should encourage students to stop smoking by giving out rewards to the students who quit smoking, for example, 5% tuition fee off. The students' family and friends should also participate in these kinds of activities. QUESTIONNAIRE 1) How old are you 2) Why did you start smoking 3) What is your attitude toward smoking 4) Do you like smoking 5) Have you ever tried to stop smoking If yes. Q.5 6) What forced you to stop smoking Was it successful Yes. Q.6 No Q.7 7) What have you done to stop smoking 8) What forced you to give up 9) What are the physical (e.g. feeling healthier) and psychological (to concentrate on work) changes appeared after smoking had become a habit of your live The answer can be both positive and negative for both answers. 10) For those who stop smoking. Please compare: How did your physical and psychological conditions changed after you stop smoking Read More