Abstract: Tobacco use among college students have been increasing worldwide, especially in developing countries like India. Some studies have an association between tobacco use among students and tobacco use among siblings or family members. The risk of tobacco use among students is also increased by having friends who are smokers. Exposures to tobacco advertisements, poor scholastic performance, high pocket money etc are other possible risk factors. A cross sectional study was conducted among 300 male college students from an arts and science college in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala state, to find out the prevalence of tobacco smoking and risk factors for the same. The prevalence of smoking was 26.7% (95% CI 21.6% to 31.8%). The mean age at which they started smoking was found to be 17.43 with the minimum age of 12 and the maximum age of 21 years. 56.3% of the students said they started smoking because of peer pressure while 46.3% said that they started for fun. Also, smoking among respondents was significantly associated with having friends as smokers (p < 0.001, OR (95% CI)- 13.72 (6.04 to 31.15)) or family members as smokers. (p- 0.001, OR (95% CI)- 2.33(1.38 to 3.94)). The study points towards a need to have a comprehensive tobacco control policy and stricter implementation of the law, with regards to control of tobacco. The focus should be on limiting the supply as well as the demand, for tobacco products.
Keywords: College students, India, smoking, tobacco control.
Title: Prevalence and Risk Factors for Tobacco Smoking, Among College Students of South India
Author: Dr. Philip Mathew, Indiradevi ER, Srijith R, Mathew T, Varghese V, Vijayan V
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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