College Students Smoking Behavior and Stress Management

Introduction

The relationship between college students smoking behavior and stress management, as well as interpersonal support management are one of the major aspects that concerns most students in many colleges and universities. There is a perception among many university students in regard to the relation between stress and smoking habits. Studies suggest that, most of the students will in a way learn to deal with the stress factors that are related to college life, or will use smoking as an escape or stress reliever. There are also other perceptions of other individuals that give a better understanding of the issue of smoking in college campuses. 

Despite the widespread recognition of the subsequently serious public health, consequences of the use of tobacco, the research on smoking cigarettes among college students appears to be sparse, and, therefore, determinant of the trend of smoking among college students are largely unknown. Roles of theoretically derived psychosocial, as well as behavioral protective factors and risk factors, regard involvement among college students. Consequently, years that students spent in institutions provide a chief opportunity in assessing the protective, as well as risk factors associated with the likelihood of smoking among students.

Development in the recent years, in social and development psychological, and also behavioral epidemiology, has subsequently contributed to the ever growing interests in the protective and risks factors role of influencing the involvement of young people in such risky behaviors like smoking, problem drinking, and use of illicit drugs. In this case, a theory based protection, and approach has significantly proved quite useful in accounting for the involvement of adolescents in problem behavior, as well as health behaviors in sample students, in post high schools across United States.

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Apparently, it has been found that coping with stress in most cases, will include engaging in various negative behaviors like smoking, alcohol consumption, use of drugs, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, increased caffeine intake and sleep deprivation among others. It is stated that most of these behaviors are majorly associated with depression, in addition to possible suicidal thoughts. It is alleged that most people who are found to be depressed often sleep less, have poorer diets, have less exercises, use alcohol and most alarming and smoke more. People will use other drugs as one of the most common aspects in universities and colleges across the United States, with smoking being highly rated among students.  Although the use of cigarettes is a quite common trend among student in colleges, as well as universities in the U.S, their effects in regard to their studies, and relation to negative behavior on depression, are not quite certain.

However, some will definitely choose to cope with stressors, majorly through positive behaviors like exercise and physical activity, addressing of proper nutrition, practicing positive thinking, spiritual methods, acquiring of adequate amounts of sleep and mediation among others. This is a trend that is not very much common among college students, and thus, in most cases; it will be quite difficult to engage in such healthy activities. 

Getting involved in practices that involve the use of drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol will be an easier option. It is due to this reason that most students in Schools across the United States have a higher probability of engaging themselves into smoking than doing health activities. In addition, cigarettes are less demanding in terms of their costs and availability, plus ease of usage as compared to other drugs, which may be used for the perceived purposes of reducing stress.  

 

It is essential to understand that there are different forms of stressors that are evidently present in most college students across the United States. These forms of stressors are subsequently at different stages of lives of students in colleges and are quite inconsistent and nerve-racking. Most of them are high level stresses that definitely account for students undergoing what is referred to as university transition. This is usually common among freshmen, who after graduating from high school move away from their homes into a relatively different zone that may be as comfortable at the first stages. Trying to incorporate a new way of life in a totally new environment, may be tough for many students, therefore, contributing to stress among some students. Studies reveal that stress develop during the transition as some of the student try to adjust and incorporate into the new situations, as well as adapting to the new college environment. 

Ostensibly, another aspect that brings the relation between smoking and stress among university students is the high expectations that parents have on their sons and daughters, upon their entry into college education.

Most students who do not perform in accordance to their parents’ expectations, they usually develop stress, prompting to the use of drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol among others. The university faculty, as well is stated to contribute to these stress related behaviors as students are expected to relatively perform well with no chance of failures in their systems. The kind of pressure that is put to these students in the university education attribute to the common behavior of smoking among university students across the United States. On top of that, there is pressure for some students to get a job to meet their financial purposes.

Social pressure is another aspect that contributes to stress among students as some of them they try to fit in everything in college. Most students may not have adequate finances to meet demands of particular campus lifestyles, and, therefore, element that attributes to stress among these students. As a remedy to the stress, most of these students turn into smoking, attributing to the ever increasing cases of smoking among college students. The kind of friends people make while in college, somewhat determine the kind of alternatives one uses to reduce stress, and thus, in this case, it has been a common believe that smoking aids in stress reduction. This is majorly the main reason why many students have embraced the smoking trend as a way of relieving stress while in college.

Conclusion

In conclusion, most of the students in universities across the United States afterward get involved in smoking behaviors, as a way of relieving their stress without considering the impact of smoking on their health. It is quite alarming that most of these students, have embraced the common perception that smoking relieves stress, which is not always the truth. Health an expert indeed, asserts that smoking does not help in reducing stress, but on the contrary, it is in a way increases someone’s stress.