The relationship between smoking and convivial, intimate and negative coping alcohol consumption in young adults

To explore the gender-specific associations of smoking with convivial, negative coping and intimate drinking contexts in young adults.

Alcohol and cigarettes co-use is common and to be more effective in prevention activities, we need to understand the drinking contexts that facilitate their co-occurrence.

Descriptive cross-sectional survey in the context of the LATO study (Lifestyle & Attitudes in a Student Population) in Greece.

Of the 1,138 students who provided full data during November-December 2012, those who have smoked ≥1 cigarette/last month were defined as smokers. Based on the "Drinking Context Scale-9", we created low, moderate and high probabilities of drinking in each context and in total. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed.

Participants reported higher probabilities to drink, in descending order, in the convivial (31.5%), negative coping (10.4%) and intimate (5.4%) contexts. Adjusted odds ratios for smoking were significantly higher for individuals who reported a moderate (OR = 2.15, 95% CI 1.51-3.05) to high (OR = 3.64, 95% CI 2.59-5.11) probability of drinking in any context. Moreover, female participants with high probabilities for drinking in convivial and negative coping contexts had higher odds ratios of engaging in smoking (convivial OR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.23-2.85; coping OR = 2.66, 95% CI = 1.39-5.10) whereas this association was noticed only for convivial settings in male participants (OR = 2.88, 95% CI = 1.91-4.319). For women only, drinking in intimate contexts was protective against smoking (OR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.10-0.98).

Smoking is differentially related to drinking context based on gender. Prevention interventions targeting smoking and alcohol co-use in late adolescence may be more effective if employing a context and gender-specific approach.

Nurses have a critical role in providing motivational interviewing in individuals and organise and execute health-promoting activities in larger groups for modifying their health risk behaviours. The social context should be carefully considered during assessments and prevention interventions.