An E-Mail Assessment of Undergraduates' Attitudes Toward Smoking

• Published in: Journal of American college health Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 61 - 66
• Main Authors: DeBernardo, Robert L., Aldinger, Carmen E., Dawood, Omar R., Hanson, Robert E., Lee, Sung-Jae, Rinaldi, Sally R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis Group 01.09.1999; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Adolescents; Adult; Assessment; Attitude to Health; Attitudes; Cigarettes; College students; Colleges & universities; Computer Communication Networks; Cross-Sectional Studies; Electronic mail systems; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Male; Needs Assessment; New England - epidemiology; Physiology; Polls & surveys; prevention; Response rates; second-hand smoke; Self Care; Smoking; Smoking - adverse effects; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking - psychology; Smoking cessation; Smoking Prevention; Sociology; Students; Students - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Tobacco smoke; Undergraduate Students; Universities; USA; Young adults
• ISSN: 0744-8481; 1940-3208
• DOI: 10.1080/07448489909595675

Responses from 513 of 1,000 randomly selected undergraduate students who were sent an e-mail questionnaire, about cigarette smoking were analyzed. Thirteen percent of the respondents identified themselves as smokers. No statistically significant differences were observed between smokers and non-smokers and year in college, sex, age, race, or having attended public or private high schools. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents considered themselves knowledgeable about adverse health consequences of smoking, yet 39.1% of current smokers seriously considered stopping smoking, and 11.5% of current nonsmokers intended to start smoking. The preferred quitting method of smokers and ex-smokers was stopping all at once ("cold turkey"). Fifty-two percent of the smokers did not want professional assistance to stop smoking; 40% of the nonsmokers wanted information on second-hand smoke.