Cigarette Use Among Young Adults: Comparisons Between 2-Year College Students, 4-Year College Students, and Those Not in College

Abstract

Objective To examine cigarette smoking among young adults based on education status. Participants Community-based sample of 2,694 young adults in U.S. Methods We compared three groups—those not in college with no college degree; two-year college students/graduates; four-year college students/graduates—on various smoking measures: ever smoked, smoked in past month, smoked in past week, consider self a smoker, began smoking before age 15, smoked over 100 cigarettes in lifetime, ever tried to quit, and plan to quit in next year. Results We found that for nearly all our smoking measures the four-year college group was at lowest risk, the non-college group was at highest risk, and the two-year college group represented a midpoint. Differences between groups remain after adjusting for parents’ education and other potential confounding factors. Conclusions Smoking behaviors clearly differ between the two-year, four-year, and no college groups. Interventions should be tailored for each group.

Reasons for Transition From Electronic Cigarette Use to Cigarette Smoking Among Young Adult College Students

“…This study included a sample of college students whose tobacco use behavior and reasons for use may differ from those of the general population of young adults and may not generalize to nonstudents. While some studies indicate that tobacco use rates are lower among young adults who attend college relative to nonstudents [37], others demonstrate similarities in tobacco use patterns across college students and nonstudents [38]. Nevertheless, examining reasons for e-cigarette-to-cigarette transition in a college sample is important as approximately half of U.S. young adults aged 18e24 years attend college [39] and tobacco use behavior may increase during this transitionary period [6].…”

Institutional Characteristics and the Connection to College Student Health

“…Because of known differences between populations at 2-year and 4-year schools, [18][19][20][21] and differences between graduate and undergraduate students, [22][23][24] only undergraduate students at 4-year schools were included. Additionally, 2 of the 4-year institutions were eliminated because over 90% of their participants were graduate students.…”

NLM Informationist Grant – Web Assisted Tobacco Intervention for Community College Students

“…Community college students were targeted as a group to study web assisted smoking cessation for a variety of reasons. Statistics show that the percentage of community college students who smoke is higher than the rest of the population (Berg et al 2011, James, Chen, and Sheu 2007, Lenk et al 2012. Community college students are also considered an underserved population, as many of them tend to come from lower socioeconomic statuses (Prokhorov et al 2003, Rigotti, Lee, andWechsler 2000).…”