Increasing Health Conscious Behavior among People in Mumbai

The rates of college students smoking in the United States have fluctuated for the past twenty years. Majority of lifelong smokers begin smoking habits before the age of 24, which makes the college years a crucial time in the study of cigarette consumption. Cigarette smoking on college campuses has become an important public health issue and there has been increase in campus wide smoking bans and other preventative programs to reduce the rates of students smoking.

The percentage of college students has fluctuated greatly. Studies in 1993 and 1997 showed that the percent of U.S. college students who smoked were 22 percent and 28 percent respectively. The Harvard School of Public Health concluded the percentage of college students who used tobacco products at least once a month was about 33 percent.

Students note that smoking cigarettes reduces anxiety, and smoking often occurs after stressful events or in stressful situations. Studies find that depressed college students are more likely to smoke and have a more difficult time quitting than non-depressed college students. 31.9% of college smokers attribute their smoking behavior as a means to alleviate their depression. Depression is related to lower self-efficacy, and depressed individuals are considered less able to resist smoking during times of low self esteem, which leads to higher reports of smoking among depressed individuals.

For women in particular, smoking is a tool for weight loss and weight management.[4] Nicotine in cigarettes is a successful appetite suppressant, which contributes to the use of cigarettes as a dieting tool. The pressure to be thin along with a need for social approval drives many young college women to smoke.[4] Body-conscious college women are also shown to be at higher risk for the continuation of smoking. Women who discontinue the use of nicotine as an appetite suppressant tend to gain weight initially, and women who are especially concerned with body weight will see this as a reason to continue smoking.[5] The media and tobacco advertising play an increasing role in perpetuating the thin body ideal. Studies show the more exposure women have to images of thin women, the lower their body satisfaction, and the more likely they are to want to diet.[5] Tobacco companies pay special attention to the concerns of women and weight loss and use this concern to target women in cigarette advertising campaigns.

Today’s smoking culture includes a subpopulation of smokers called “social smokers”. Although there may be different explanations of what a social smoker is, many college students define “social smokers” as those who use tobacco in more social activities and find it essential for socializing, rather than using tobacco on a regular basis, dictated by nicotine dependence.[8] Social smokers don’t believe that they are addicted to smoking, or worried about the social acceptability of their smoking habits.[8] In a study conducted in 2004, 51% of current college smokers stated that they primarily smoked with other people and in social activities. 71% of occasional smokers smoked in a social situation, compared to daily smokers, 19% of which smoke in social environment. Students who started smoking within the past two years of the study were more than twice as likely to be social smokers than students who had been smoking for a longer period of time prior to the study. Characteristics of social smokers have been found to include more females and non-Hispanic whites, than other demographic characteristics and spent more time socializing with friends, were binge drinkers and had a high importance for the arts. Lastly, social smokers don’t perceive themselves at risk to tobacco related illnesses, nor believe they will ever become nicotine dependent. Since social smokers don’t think they’ll become dependent on nicotine, they don’t plan on quitting during college, but have intentions to quit once they graduate.