HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Smoking Among College Students Is on the Rise

By William J. Cromie
Gazette Staff

Smoking by college students has increased significantly in the past four years, according to a nationwide survey by Harvard's School of Public Health.

The survey found that cigarette smoking jumped 28 percent between 1993 and 1997. More than one quarter of those questioned in 1997 said they began smoking while in college.

Researchers surveyed 15,103 students in 1993 and 14,251 in 1997 at 116 four-year colleges. In 1997, 28.5 percent said they smoked, up, from 22.3 percent in 1993.

More students in the 1997 group smoked when they entered college. This finding agrees with other studies that found a 32 percent rise in smokers among high school students between 1991 and 1997.

"Despite a dramatic reduction in smoking during the past 30 years, tobacco remains stubbornly popular among adolescents and young adults," notes Henry Wechsler, who led the study. He and his colleagues say that smoking kills more than 400,000 people a year in the United States alone, and it is the leading preventable cause of sickness and death in this country.

Although smoking increased among all college groups, it was more prevalent among whites than among blacks or Asians. First-, second-, and third-year students smoked more than did fourth- and fifth-year students. Fewer students smoked at private schools, commuter schools, and highly competitive schools than at public, residential, and less-competitive schools.

Smoking prevalence did not differ between urban and rural schools, women¹s and co-ed institutions, or schools with and without a religious affiliation. Those attending schools in the West smoked less than students in the Northeast, North Central, and South.

There was some good news in the survey report, published in yesterday¹s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Wechsler and his colleagues at the Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the University of California, Los Angeles, found that half of current college smokers tried to quit at least once during the preceding year. Also, less than 12 percent of smokers, or only 3 percent of college students, smoked a pack a day or more.

However, the researchers said, survey results "are a cause for alarm and call for examining and strengthening of prevention efforts from middle school through college. The national debate on smoking policies, which has focused mainly on youth younger than 18 years, should be expanded to include the college-aged population, whose future health should be a national priority."