197
JOURNAL OF YOUTH RESEARCHES
Psychological Symptoms and
Smoking Among Turkish University
Students
Copyright © 2018
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Youth and Sports
/
Journal of Youth Researches • April 2018 • 6(14) • 197-207
ISSN 2147-8473
Received
| 30 March 2018
Accepted
| 18 April 2018
* Prof. Dr., Karadeniz Technical University, Fatih Education Faculty, Trabzon,
This paper was presented at the 10th International Congress on Social Sciences, Madrid, Spain, Sep., 23-24, 2016
Hikmet Yazıcı*
Abstract
Smoking which may lead to serious health problems, is commonly observed among young people.
The recent increased use of cigarettes by young people and its relation to psychological symptoms
are reasons for increasing research into smoking. The main objective of this cross-sectional study
was to analyze the association between psychological symptoms with smoking status. A sample of
779 students (smokers=206, nonsmokers=573) answered a questionnaire including demographic
variables and items regarding smoking. Psychological symptoms were measured by Brief Symptom
Inventory (BSI). Current smokers reported significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms (t=-
3.16), anxiety (t=-3.58), self-negativity (t=-3.08), somatization (t=-3.29) and hostility (t=-6.27) than
non-smokers. The results also indicate that self-negativity (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.91-1.99) and hostili-
ty (OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.07-1.17) were variables significantly associated with current smoking status.
These findings suggest that certain psychological symptoms are strongly related to risk for smoking.
Keywords:
Depression, Anxiety, Self-negativity, Somatization, Hostility, Smoking, Turkish College
Students.
ANALYS I S / RESEARCH
