According to the study, adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are representative of the “legal” targets for tobacco industry marketing. It is also highlighted that a large portion of these young adults being targeted are college students. While actually cigarette smoking is more common, this study seeks to find research on the usage of tobaccos products that are not cigarettes by college students or cigar use by adults regardless of their age.

The objective of this study is “to assess the prevalence of all forms of tobacco use (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco) among US college students and to identify student- and college-level factors associated with use of each product.”

To gather data, the Harvard College Alcohol Survey, was utilized. This is a self-administered survey that was conducted in 1999. The sites for this study were one-hundred nineteen “nationally representative US 4-year colleges.” From these colleges, a total of 14,138 students were randomly selected, which indicated a sixty-percent response rate.

The variables tested consisted of self-reported use of any and all tobacco products within the past 30 days, past-year, and lifetime.

The study concludes that the use of tobacco products is not limited to cigarettes. For this particular study, it is important to note the percentage of survey response. For the class study, we must keep in mind the types of questions that we ask in order to receive the most responses possible while conducting a research with accurate, genuine results. In this survey, maybe some students were not comfortable admitting their use of tobacco due to social repercussions or whatever the reasonings may be.

Citation:

“US College Students’ Use of Tobacco Products.” JAMA Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. <http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=192969&resultclick=1>.