Pubdate: November 18, 1998
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Copyright: 1998 Los Angeles Times.
Author: Alissa J. Rubin

28% JUMP IN COLLEGE SMOKERS-- RESEARCHERS ALARMED

WASHINGTON--Smoking among college students has risen by 28% in the  last
four years, alarming researchers who say the new trend likely  signals a
reversal of the 30-year decline in adult smoking rates and  could lead to
further increases in tobacco-related illness.

The new study, released Tuesday by the Harvard School of Public  Health and
published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.,  showed that college
students, who for years have been among the  demographic group most
resistant to smoking, are rapidly catching up  to their non-college-educated
contemporaries.

The shift is hardly surprising since it was presaged by an increase over the
last decade in the percentage of teens who smoked and since  it is those
children who are now in college. Of the students  surveyed in the study, 90%
had experimented with cigarettes in high  school.

But the increase is still disturbing to public health experts, who until now
had focused little on whether the children who had  experimented with
smoking as teenagers would become regular smokers.

"This is a very dangerous sign and it may signal an increase in the general
population of adult smokers," said Harvey Wechsler, a  professor at the
Harvard School of Public Health, one of the study's  authors. "When the most
resistant group changes, we have to worry  about the rest of the population.
That's why something has to be  done."  Until recent years, the percentage
of adult Americans who smoked  declined steadily from a high of nearly 43%
in 1966 to a fairly  steady 25%, according to statistics from the Centers
for Disease  Control and Prevention. Within these broad statistics, however,
different groups had widely varying habits, with college educated adults
among the least likely to smoke.

Now, according to the Harvard study, which surveyed nearly 15,000 students,
28% of college students count themselves as smokers. That  is still fewer
than the general population--about 34% of  non-college-educated people under
25 are smokers--but it is a  substantial increase over previous years. As
recently as 1991, 12%  of college-educated men smoked.

Although Asian, black and Latino college students all had lower  rates of
smoking than white college students, the only demographic  group whose
smoking did not increase at record rates were Latinos.

According to the study, smoking by Latino college students rose 12%.

Researchers were particularly concerned that of those students who were
smoking in college, 25% reported becoming daily smokers after previously
smoking only occasionally. Since the majority of college  smokers are not
yet deeply addicted--fewer than 11% smoke more than  a pack a day--they are
prime candidates for anti-smoking messages,  said Nancy Rigotti, an
internist at Massachusetts General Hospital,  another of the study's
co-authors.

"Clearly, the college years are a time of great flux . . . it is a window to
intervene in students' smoking habits," said Rigotti, who,  along with other
experts, advocated that colleges undertake a range  of anti-smoking
initiatives.

Among their recommendations: Schools should make dormitories smoke-free and
increase the number of public spaces, such as  classrooms and meeting areas,
where smoking is barred. College  health services also need to promote
smoking cessation programs,  they said.

The tobacco industry's proposed settlement with several state attorneys
general, which was announced Monday, includes billions of  dollars for
public health initiatives at the state and national  levels, and a portion
of that money needs to be aimed at college  smokers, said William Novelli,
president of the National Center for  Tobacco Free Kids, a nonprofit group.

Said Rigotti: "This is a group that has fallen below the radar  screen
because in the past we thought they didn't smoke much. We  were really
focused on younger people because they were such a good  political cause.
Now we have to do something about it."

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Checked-by: Rolf Ernst