Factors Affecting the Smoking Behavior of Medical and Nursing Students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between a number of variables and the smokingbehavior of students at 2 medical and 4 nursing schools. Multivariate analysis was applied to clarify theassociation between the Brinkman index and 12 other independent variables.
The study population consisted of 1, 207 medical and 682 nursing students in Japan.
1) 35.4% of medical students (1-6th grades), 12.5% of nursing students and 28.7% of medical students (1-3rd grades) smoked. Medical students in the 5th or 6th grade smoked more frequently than the otherstudents.
2) Smokers in medical school and those giving up smoking in nursing school had more knowledge aboutsmoking and its physical effects than the others.
3) Multiple regression analysis showed that the coefficients of determination for the Brinkman indiceswere 0.197 in medical school (1-6th grades), 0.055 in nursing school and 0.106 in medical schools (1-3rd grades). The main independent variables were age, sex and maternal smoking history.