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Behavioral and Social Determinants of Smoking and Support for Tobacco-Free Campus Policies among Students, Faculty and Staff: Evidence from South Carolina
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable and premature death in the United States. An estimated 443,000 people die annually due to tobacco use and it annually costs the nation over $210 billion in direct medical costs and lost productivity. Over 3,800 young people under 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette every day and over 1,000 become daily smokers; the vast majority of these young Americans will become addicted to nicotine by young adulthood.
The 2012 US Census data show that over 41% of young adults 18-24 years of age attend college, where they are exposed to peer-smoking behavior, secondhand smoke, and are also targeted with tobacco industry promotional activities. Furthermore, the 2012 US Surgeon General’s Report documented that 19% of young adults initiate smoking between ages 18-24 and almost no one starts smoking after age 25. These are important health behaviors that if established during adolescence and early adulthood can become lifetime patterns and potentially affect long-term health. Adopting campus tobacco-free policies offers unique opportunities for promoting social norms that support healthy lifestyles and prevent tobacco use among a large number of young adults.
To develop programs and policies to reduce smoking on university campuses, it is critical to assess the personal, behavioral, and situational factors associated with adoption, frequency, and magnitude of smoking, as well as support for tobacco control policies among students and campus personnel.
The objective of this study is to investigate how socio-economic, demographic, environmental, health, and behavioral characteristics of individuals and social norming predict (1) smoking behavior and (2) support for tobacco-free policies among students, faculty and staff of select South Carolina universities.
Data/Method
Data is being collected during 2013 from four University of South Carolina system campuses (Aiken, Salkehatchie, Sumter, Union). Students, faculty, and staff are asked to complete an online questionnaire measuring tobacco use, quitting behavior, and support for a tobacco-free campus policy as well as nutrition, physical activity, health status, social norming, and socio-economic and demographic factors.
The effect of predictors (e.g., socio-economic, demographic, behavioral, social norming) of smoking behavior (monthly frequency and quantity of consumed cigarettes) will be modeled as a bivariate ordered probit model that jointly estimates smoking decisions (frequency and quantity). Furthermore, the effects of the aforementioned predictors on the support for a campus-wide policy prohibiting use of tobacco products will be modeled with an ordered probit regression.
Expected Results
The results will provide valuable information about the significance of individual, environmental, and behavioral characteristics of university students, faculty, and staff on their smoking behavior and support for campus-wide tobacco control policies. The importance of this study is twofold. First, it will help to better understand how individual characteristics, environment, and social norming affect support for tobacco-free campus policies, thus, aiding policymakers and advocates to tailor advocacy campaigns to address the specific concerns of different subpopulations. Second, it will advance understanding of smoker profiles, hence guiding policymakers and wellness coordinators in targeting efficient and customized strategies to promote smoking cessation among smokers in university/college communities.