title: An E-mail assessment of undergraduates' attitudes toward smoking.
abstract: Responses from 513 of 1,000 randomly selected undergraduate students who were sent an e-mail questionnaire, about cigarette smoking were analyzed. Thirteen percent of the respondents identified themselves as smokers. No statistically significant differences were observed between smokers and nonsmokers and year in college, sex, age, race, or having attended public or private high schools. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents considered themselves knowledgeable about adverse health consequences of smoking, yet 39.1% of current smokers seriously considered stopping smoking, and 11.5% of current nonsmokers intended to start smoking. The preferred quitting method of smokers and ex-smokers was stopping all at once ("cold turkey"). Fifty-two percent of the smokers did not want professional assistance to stop smoking; 40% of the nonsmokers wanted information on second-hand smoke.
authors.affiliation: Yale University Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: DeBernardo
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Aldinger
authors.forename: O R
authors.initials: OR
authors.lastname: Dawood
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009511:New England / Q000453:epidemiology; D012648:Self Care; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities