Tobacco use among college students in Kerala, India
Authors
TS Jaisoorya
Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Sundarnag Ganjekar
Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Priya Menon
Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
B Nair
Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
Anjana Rani
Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
K Thennarassu
Department of Biostatistics, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Keywords:
College students, correlates, India, Kerala, prevalence, tobacco
Abstract
Background & objectives:
Despite tobacco use among college students being a major health concern, data remain sparse from India. It is in this background that this study aimed to report the prevalence of tobacco use and its psychosocial correlates among college students in the State of Kerala, India.
Methods:
A total of 5784 students from 58 colleges from Ernakulam district, Kerala, selected by cluster random sampling and were provided with self-administered questionnaire. In addition to socio-demographic profile, the questionnaire incorporated alcohol, smoking, and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST, for assessing tobacco use and its severity, lifetime use of other substances); Kessler’s scale (psychological distress) and Barkeley’s scale (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms). Screening questions were used for assessing lifetime suicidality and sexual abuse.
Results:
The lifetime prevalence of tobacco use was 8.6 per cent (21.5% males and 1.4% female). Among users, hazardous and dependent use defined using ASSIST scores was 63.3 and 2.9 per cent, respectively. Tobacco use was associated with older age, being male, urban residence, having a part-time job, use of alcohol and illicit drugs and academic failures.
Interpretation & conclusions:
Although the prevalence of tobacco use in our study was relatively low, the proportionately higher rates of hazardous use and its association with the negative correlates suggest that more needs to be done to prevent its deleterious consequences.
Keywords: College students, correlates, India, Kerala, prevalence, tobacco
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