the prevalance of cigarette smoking and some demographic and psychological characteristics in students of islamic azad university of khorasgan, iran

aim and background: smoking and drugs are considered are among the most common causes of early mortality in developing and developed countries. health professionals believe that university period has special characteristics and is of high importance in prevention of smoking among young adults. in this study, we examined with the relations between smoking and psychological and demographic variables. methods and materials: in a cross-sectional study, 537 students were randomly selected from 7 schools of islamic azad university (khorasgan branch, iran). a researcher-made questionnaire and the symptom checklist-90-revised (scl-90-r) were completed by the participants. the collected data was analyzed in spss 12 using descriptive and inferential statistics. findings: smokers constituted 18.7% of the study population. smoking was significantly more frequent among men. there was no significant relation between marital status and palce of residence. smoking was significantly correlated with having a smoking family (27.3% of smokers had smoking families). the most common way to start smoking cigarettes was through friends (75%). among psychiatric symptoms, hostility (aggression) and physical complaints were significantly higher in smokers than nonsmokers. general severity index was higher among smokers but the difference between the two groups was not significant. conclusions: the prevalence of smoking among students of islamic azad university of khorasgan was relatively higher than many other universities. the high prevalence in this age can lead to many physical and mental problems. in addition, smoking individuals are usually more aggressive. hence, educational and preventive policies are required to reduce smoking in young people. attitudes of teenagers and young adults toward smoking should also be corrected through similar programs.