Impact of Parents and Peers Smoking on Tobacco Consumption Behavior of University Students

Abstract

Introduction: In the United Arab Emirates, smoking prevalence has increased in both sexes, especially among<br />young adults. Various factors have led to this catastrophe; examples include coverage on TV and social media, as well<br />as market availability. One major influence is smoking by parents and peers. A lot of students may start smoking because<br />of the behavior of their family and friends, and therefore it is necessary to quantify adverse contributions. The aim of<br />this project was to study to what degree parents and peers smoking habits may impact on smoking behavior of students<br />at the University of Sharjah. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study with a non-probability convenient type<br />of sampling, was conducted with university students aged 18 to 23. Information was collected using a self-administered<br />questionnaire, comprising 23 questions, developed by ourselves. Results: A total of 400 University of Sharjah students<br />(50% males and 50% females) were included.Some 15.8% of the smoking students had smoking parents, and 17.1%<br />of them had smoking peers. The respective figures were 22.2% and 21.7% for males and 10% and 7.8% for females.<br />Conclusions: Peers had a stronger impact than parents and both parents and peers had greater influence on males than<br />on females. Interestingly, almost 80% of the smoking students did not have smoking parents or peers, which leaves<br />the question unanswered of why they started smoking in the first place. Actions at a societal level should be taken into<br />consideration to prevent smoking and thus help create a non-smoking generation.