Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA.
Addict Behav. 2011 Dec;36(12):1199-204. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.07.024. Epub 2011 Jul 29.
The majority of college students who smoke do so on an occasional basis and generally do not define themselves as smokers. This represents a considerable challenge for public health efforts to prevent escalation of use and to promote cessation. Strengthening such efforts will require further examination of the motivations behind occasional smoking within this vulnerable group.
Based within a priori identified content areas, we conducted eight focus groups of occasional smokers (N=53) at two demographically diverse colleges in the southeastern U.S.
Few participants self-identified as a smoker and few had immediate desire to quit. Most identified extrinsic motivations for future quitting, including college graduation and parenthood. Although participants acknowledged smoking-related health risks, they minimized them as being personally irrelevant. Participants highlighted social (i.e., alcohol and other smokers) and stress-related smoking triggers. They also described how they carefully managed the situations in which they would, and would not smoke in order to preserve their identity.
College students who smoke occasionally appear to engage in impression management, taking effort to shape their personal image to not appear as a smoker. They use smoking mainly as a social engagement tool, but also to alleviate negative emotions. They express minimal desire to quit and believe they are immune to the health risks of smoking. Public health messages should address this common pattern of smoking among young adults differently than regular smoking patterns by highlighting the social, emotional, and health consequences of occasional smoking before nicotine dependence has fully developed.
大多数偶尔吸烟的大学生并非烟民，他们通常不会将自己定义为吸烟者。这对公共卫生部门预防吸烟行为升级和促进戒烟的努力构成了巨大挑战。为了加强这些努力，需要进一步研究这一脆弱群体偶尔吸烟背后的动机。
基于事先确定的内容领域，我们在美国东南部的两所人口统计学上不同的大学进行了八组偶尔吸烟者（N=53）的焦点小组讨论。
很少有参与者自认为是吸烟者，也很少有立即戒烟的愿望。大多数人确定了未来戒烟的外在动机，包括大学毕业和为人父母。尽管参与者承认吸烟相关的健康风险，但他们认为这些风险与个人无关而将其最小化。参与者强调了与社交（如饮酒和其他吸烟者）和压力相关的吸烟诱因。他们还描述了如何精心管理自己会吸烟和不会吸烟的情况，以维护自己的形象。
偶尔吸烟的大学生似乎在进行印象管理，努力塑造自己的个人形象，不表现出吸烟者的形象。他们主要将吸烟作为社交参与工具，但也用于缓解负面情绪。他们表示几乎没有戒烟的愿望，并且认为自己对吸烟的健康风险有免疫力。公共卫生信息应该以不同的方式针对这种年轻人中常见的偶尔吸烟模式，强调偶尔吸烟的社会、情感和健康后果，因为在尼古丁依赖完全形成之前。
