Cigarette Smoking and Determination of Nicotine Dependence Levels in University Students

Abstract

Early diagnosis and treatment of smoking addiction is considered to be one of the most cost-effective prevention methods. The aim of this study is to determine nicotine dependence levels and some related features in university students. The target population of this descriptive study consists of 30147 students studying at a public university. In the sample calculation, it was determined that at least 453 people should be reached. Volunteer students who smoke regularly were included in the study. A 17-item questionnaire developed by the researchers and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence Score were administered to the participants. SPSS program was used for statistical analysis of the survey data. Descriptive and statistical significance tests were performed. Statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05 for all tests. The mean age of the participants was 21.0 +/- 2.9 years and 58.2% is female. On average, they smoke 15 (10-20) cigarettes a day. The father of 54.3% and close friends of 62.3% were smokers. The frequency of students who want to quit smoking was 19.5%. The frequency of those who tried to quit at least once was 52.8% and attempts to quit smoking were 2 (1-3) times. According to nicotine dependence test, 31.4% was moderate and 13.4% was highly dependent. In high addicts, the father and close friends of them had higher smoking rates (p <0.05). It was determined that high addicts have more unsuccessful smoking cessation attempts (3 [2-3] times) (p=0.01). As a result, it is necessary to increase the willingness and efforts of university students to quit smoking before the level of dependence increases and health problems occur. In order to keep young people away from negative environments which encourage smoking; it is recommended that the support they need should be provided by their families, peers and university community.