Prevalence and influencing factors of smoking among nursing students

Objective To study smoking prevalence and its influencing factors among nursing students and to provide a scientific basis for tobacco-control education among nursing students.Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among 5 210 nursing students selected with cluster sampling from two medical colleges in Chongqing.Results The smoking rate in the students was 4.3%(26.9% in the male students and 2.9% in the female students).The results of univariate analysis indicated that significant influencing factors of smoking prevalence in the students included gender, academic level, years of study, living expenses per month, smoking status of friends and parents, awareness of smoking hazards, attitude towards social smoking control, degree of participation in school tobacco-control activities, score of tobacco-control knowledge, perceived tobacco-control information in the media, and the number of smokers in the friends(all P<0.05).The results of multivariate analysis indicated that the students of male gender, with a smoking mother, having smoking friends, with poor knowledge about smoking hazards, having a low score of tobacco-control knowledge, believing that smokers could have more friends, having a low perceived cognition on tobacco-control were more likely to be a smoker(all P<0.05);whereas the students having a higher education background and a lower living cost per month were more likely to be a non-smoker(both P<0.05).Conclusion The risk factors of smoking include with a smoking mother, having smoking friends, with less knowledge about tobacco hazards, having lower education, having low academic level, believing that smokers could have more friends, and having a low perceived cognition on tobacco-control among nursing students.