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Published on: February 22, 2018
Depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking in a college sample
Brent A Kenney1, Charles J Holahan
1Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Objective And Participants:
The authors examined (1) the relationship between depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking in a college sample and (2) the role of smoking self-efficacy (one's perceived ability to abstain from smoking) in explaining the relationship between depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking.
Methods:
Predominantly first-year college students at a large public university completed a self-report inventory indexing depressive symptoms, cigarette smoking, and smoking self-efficacy.
Results:
Findings indicated that students high in depressive symptoms smoked significantly more cigarettes per day than did those with low depressive symptoms. Further, among current smokers, smoking self-efficacy explained the relationship between depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking.
Conclusions:
These findings add to accumulating evidence that depressive symptoms are a risk factor for increased cigarette smoking in college students. The authors discuss implications for university-based smoking cessation and prevention programs.
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