Smoking, but not smokers: Identity among college students who smoke cigarettes

Abstract

Cigarette smoking in college is often described as social smoking, but the term lacks definition and implicitly discounts dependence. We report on college students' use of the terms social smoker and smoker. Students who currently smoked cigarettes were asked whether they considered themselves smokers, and whether they smoked because they were social smokers. The survey was conducted during 1999-2004 at eight colleges; analysis was limited to 1,401 students aged 18-24 years. More than half of students (56.3%) denied being smokers ("deniers") despite current smoking behavior. Half of deniers, and fewer than half of admitters, called themselves social smokers. Deniers were highly likely to smoke infrequently, to say they were not addicted to cigarettes, to have mostly nonsmokers as close friends, to prefer dating nonsmokers, and to smoke for reasons other than stress relief. In contrast, social-smoker identity was associated only weakly with any attitude, behavior, or belief. Smoker and social-smoker identities were not significantly correlated with each other. Regardless of identity, more than half of the respondents wanted to quit smoking by graduation. Results suggest that denying being a smoker may be a widespread dissonance among college students who smoke. The possibility should be evaluated using population-level research, because it has potentially undermining implications for smoking cessation campaigns. Campus health centers should avoid using "smoker" self-assessment items on pre-exam questionnaires. Further research is needed to explore the psychosocial mechanisms involved with denier identity, to clarify the implications for public health communications, and to develop appropriate intervention strategies.

Factors Associated With Smoking, Quit Attempts and Attitudes towards Total Smoking Bans at University: A Survey of Seven Universities in England, Wales and Northern ireland

“…none or different time recall limits in the question; lack of clarity as to whether the reported prevalence levels represent daily, occasional or ever smoking) would need to be addressed in future research in order to facilitate comparisons. An additional point to note is that self-reported smoking rates may underestimate actual current smoking: evidence suggested that numerous young adult college smokers do not classify themselves as 'smokers' (Levinson et al, 2007), given their high prevalence of intermittent (e.g., nondaily) smoking (Grimshaw and Stanton, 2006).…”

Are college student smokers really a homogeneous group? A latent class analysis of college student smokers

“…For instance, pharmacotherapy or nicotine replacement therapies, appropriate for daily smokers, may be ineffective with other groups of smokers. In addition, college students who are nondaily smokers do not typically consider themselves to be smokers and may underestimate their risk for future smoking, overestimate their ability to quit, and underestimate the health risks associated with their tobacco use ( Levinson et al, 2007 ;Thompson et al, 2007 ). Traditional cessation programs may not be successful with nondaily smokers, primarily because they do not perceive themselves to be smokers.…”

Adolescents’ Perceptions of Light and Intermittent Smoking in the United States

“…13 Some light and intermittent smokers do not even consider their use to qualify them as "smokers," demonstrating an unduly optimistic bias in their assessment of smoking's associated risks. [9][10][11]14 Also possible are potentially significant misconceptions regarding the safety of light and intermittent smoking. No level of tobacco exposure is safe.…”

“…1 Existing data on light and intermittent smoking suggest a potentially alarming picture. Light and intermittent smokers may perceive their tobacco use to be less addictive, [9][10][11] although nicotine dependence symptoms appear to form rapidly in intermittent smokers 12 and the relationship between consumption and addiction does not follow a clear-cut threshold effect. 13 Some light and intermittent smokers do not even consider their use to qualify them as "smokers," demonstrating an unduly optimistic bias in their assessment of smoking's associated risks.…”