Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Delores C.S. James, PhD¹, W. William Chen, PhD, CHES¹, and Jiunn-Jye Sheu, PhD, MSPH². (1) Health Education and Behavior, University of Florida, PO BOx 118210, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8210, 352-392-0583, djames@hhp.ufl.edu, (2) Department of Health Education & Behavior, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118210, Rm. 5 FLG, Gainesville, FL 32611

This paper describes and compares smoking prevalence, types of tobacco products used, and motivation to quit tobacco products among college students at universities and community colleges. Data were collected using the Florida Annual College Tobacco Survey. The research was done at a major Florida university and was sponsored by the Florida Department of Health. 4973 students participate in the Florida Annual College Tobacco Survey (FACTS) in 2002 and 2003. Nine universities and eight community colleges participated in the study. Seventy-one percent of students (n=3520) were from universities and 29% (n=1453) were from community colleges. Most students (69%) experimented with tobacco. Cigarettes were used more often (57.4%), followed by Black N' Mild (31.8%), cigars (30.1%), cloves (24.1%), smokeless tobacco (13.9%), and pipe (8.9%). University students were significantly more likely than college students to have tried cigars, pipes, Black ‘N Mild, and clove cigarettes (p<.05). There were no significant differences between types of schools for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco (p>.05). Community college students experimented at an earlier age than university student on cigarettes, cigars, clove cigarettes, and pipes (p<.05). Thirty percent of students (n=964) described themselves as current cigarette smokers and 63% described themselves as regular cigarette smokers. The majority of cigarette smokers (61%) were not interested in quitting; 15% said they were interested, and 23% said they might be interested in the near future. University students (64%) were significantly less interested than community college (58%) students in quitting (p<.002). The implication for college tobacco education programs will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. To identify differences in smoking prevalence between university and community college students.
• 2. To identify differences in choices of tobacco products between university and community college students.

Keywords: College Students, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered