An Examination of Smoking Status of Students Attending to Vocational School of Physical Education and Sports, and The Factors Effective Thereon

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to examine the smoking habits of students attending to Vocational School of Physical Education and Sports.The questionnaire for eliciting information, as regards when and how smoking has begun, as developed by Colakoglu (2005) based on expert opinions was used as the data collection tool in the study. The sample of study was comprised of the students attending to Vocational School of Physical Education and Sports, BartınUniversity, and the study group was composed 100 students enrolled in the study on the basis of voluntariness. The 18-item questionnaire as utilised in the study was developed by TekinColakoglu based on expert opinoins with an aim to elicit information as regards demographic structure of students and when and how they begin smoking. Percentage and frequency distribution of data collected from replies to questionnaire items were presented and comparisons were made based on sub-variables of certain items. As a result of study, 58 percent of students participated in the study were from “22–26 years” age group, 72 percent were “Men,” 56 percent were “4thClass”students, 47.4 percent reported to have begun smoking at “High School,” 47.4 percent said they were affected by their “Friends” to begin smoking, and 68.4% they want to quit smoking.” In conclusion smoking is a bad habit and students begin smoking unwillingly by being affected by their friends. It can be concluded that educators and families should be more cautious and sensitive about smoking especially at secondary education. Keywords: Smoking; Universitystudent; Vocational School of Physical Education and Sports