Individual and family correlates for cigarette smoking among Taiwanese college students.
OBJECTIVE
This college-based questionnaire survey aimed to explore the individual, family, and peer correlates for cigarette smoking among first-year college students.


METHODS
The sample included 2918 first-year college students (males, 45.5%) recruited from a national university in Taiwan (participation rate, 79.1%). The participants reported on questions about various substances, attitudes toward substances, personality characteristics, psychopathology, suicidal behaviors, parenting style, family function and use of substances, and peer substance use.


RESULTS
There were 263 (9.0%; males, 70.6%) current smokers. Compared to nonsmokers, college smokers were more extraverted and neurotic, and showed less harm avoidance, and more novelty seeking in their personality. They had more hostile, somatic, depressive, paranoid, and psychotic symptoms in terms of psychopathology. Smokers were more likely to use other substances, and to have suicidal ideations, wishes, plans, and attempts. Smokers perceived lower family cohesion, less care from their fathers, and less overprotection from their mothers. They were more likely to have peers and family members who also smoked or used other substances. The most associated correlates were male sex, older age, other substance use, novelty seeking, suicidal ideation and attempts, sibling and peer substance use, a prosubstance attitude, and less maternal overprotection.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings support the association of cigarette use in Taiwanese young adults with several individual, family, and peer factors identified in Western studies. Intervention in cigarette use should be multifaceted, by taking its correlates and the concurrent psychopathology, use of substances, and suicidality into consideration.
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10002, Taiwan. gaushufe@ntu.edu.tw
Susan Shur-Fen
SS
Gau
Meng-Chuan
MC
Lai
Yen-Nan
YN
Chiu
Chun-Te
CT
Liu
Ming-Been
MB
Lee
Hai-Gwo
HG
Hwu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult