Smoking Among Young Adults: Lifestyle, Attitudes/Beliefs, Media Messaging, and Demographics

Audience:   Young adults, 18–24 years of age, have the highest rate of cigarette use of any age group.  Literature on young adult smoking is generally small.  We identify factors influencing young adult cigarette use.  We employ the CDC logic model as an organizing frame of reference and emphasize lifestyle factors, past exposure to anti-tobacco messaging, tobacco use tolerance, attitudes/beliefs on cigarette use, and demographic characteristics.  All audience members interested in tobacco control will benefit.

Key Points:   Our results suggest that lifestyles and attitudes/beliefs should be key behavioral targets of prevention (and cessation) programs aimed at young adults.  Data suggest that as young adults reject negative labels attached to smokers, they are more likely to smoke.  Prevention programs should aim to reduce barriers that segregate nonsmokers and smokers to increase the chance that smokers will adopt the attitudes/beliefs of nonsmokers.  A cross-sectional study of 4,401 young adults was conducted using telephone interviews in 2010.  Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine relationships between current smoking and lifestyles, past media exposure, tobacco use tolerance, attitude/belief variables, and demographic characteristics.  Current smoking was significantly associated with lifestyles (frequent bar/club, drinks per month, number of friends who smoke), tobacco use tolerance (allow smoke in house/car, moderate tobacco use), and attitude/belief indices (government intervention, health risks, smoker characteristics, and smoker/nonsmoker relationship).

Educational Experience:   Audience members will be able to identify correlates of tobacco use in young adults.

Benefits:  Assist in the development of targeted anti-tobacco programs focused on young adults.