Knowledge about Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking and Quitting among Italian University Students: The Importance of Teaching Nicotine Dependence and Treatment in the Medical Curriculum
Table 1
Smoking habits, medical advice to quit, and intention to quit among 1191 university students.
School
Medical
Architecture
Law
Year of observation
2010
2011
2011
2011
2012
2012
2012
2012
Group
1
2
3A
3B
4A
4B
5
6
Year of school
4
4
5
5 (Retest)
6
6 (Retest)
4
4
439
203
113
104
207
126
122
107
Smoking habits°
Never smokers**
330 (75.2)
145 (71.4)
75 (68.2)
80 (76.9)
133 (64.3)
101 (80.2)
73 (59.8)
62 (57.9)
Current smokers**
67 (15.3)
38 (18.7)
21 (18.6)
14 (13.5)
49 (23.7)
13 (10.3)
32 (26.2)
28 (26.2)
Former smokers*
42 (9.6)
18 (8.9)
14 (12.7)
10 (9.6)
25 (12.1)
12 (9.5)
17 (13.9)
15 (14.0)
Mean age at onset of smoking among never smokers: years
(range)
(12–24)
(12–25)
(9–25)
(13–24)
(12–24)
(11–24)
(13–22)
(13–22)
Mean age of smoking cessation among former smokers: years
(range)
(15–24)
(15–31)
(14–30)
(15–25)
(14–30)
(15–24)
(17–29)
(18–27)
Characteristics of current smokers
Fagerström score
(range)
(0–6)
(0–5)
(0–8)
(0–5)
(0–7)
(0–2)
(0–7)
(0–6)
Tried to quit and relapsed in the past
30 (44.8)
20 (54.1)
9 (42.9)
6 (42.8)
18 (36.7)
4 (30.8)
12 (37.5)
11 (39.2)
Tried to stop smoking during university
29 (43.3)
20 (54.1)
11 (52.4)
7 (50.0)
16 (32.7)
4 (30.8)
16 (50.0)
11 (39.3)
Tried in the last year to stop smoking and succeeded for 1 day or longer
36 (53.7)
25 (67.6)
15 (71.4)
10 (71.4)
27 (55.1)
9 (69.2)
20 (62.5)
16 (57.1)
Medical advice to quit (answered yes)
“In the last year, did a doctor advise you to stop smoking?”
11 (16.4)
12 (32.4)
4 (19.0)
3 (21.4)
11 (22.4)
4 (30.8)
6 (18.8)
5 (17.9)
Intention to quit (answered yes)
“Would you like to give up smoking altogether?”
40 (59.7)
24 (64.8)
11 (52.3)
9 (64.3)
25 (51.0)
5 (38.5)
18 (56.3)
21 (75.0)
Which of the following statements best describes your current intentions with regard to smoking?
“I want to quit, but I’m not ready to try now.”
26 (38.8)
11 (29.7)
5 (23.8)
5 (35.7)
17 (34.7)
4 (30.8)
5 (15.6)
10 (35.7)
“I will continue to smoke for now.”
13 (19.4)
8 (21.6)
9 (42.8)
3 (21.4)
20 (40.8)
6 (46.2)
14 (43.4)
12 (42.9)
Data are expressed as (%) or M (±SD); and Pearson’s chi-squared test.
°Seven missing answers: two in Group 2, three in Group 3A, and two in Group 6.
