Cause, Behaviors and Impacts of Smoking of Undergraduate Students : A Case Study in a University in Phitsanulok Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to study the causes of smoking behaviors, 2) to
study smoking behaviors, 3) to study the impacts of smoking, and 4) to study the relationship
between causes and smoking behaviors. It is quantitative research. Data were collected by
using a questionnaire with 375 samples from second to fourth year-undergraduate students in
academic year of 2020 from a university in Phitsanulok province by simple sampling method
and analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, and Pearson
correlation coefficient.
The results were found that 1) behavioral causes of smoking among undergraduate
students of a university in Phitsanulok province: the samples had knowledge on smoking at a
high level ( ̅ = 15.23, S.D.= 2.375), had attitude towards smoking at a moderate level ( ̅= 3.46,
S.D.= 0.649), enabled to buy at a high level ( ̅ = 3.81, S.D.= 0.833), had accessibility at a
moderate level ( = 2.93, S.D.= 0.966), had social support from family at a moderate level
( ̅= 2.64, S.D.= 1.282), had social support from peer at a moderate level ( ̅= 2.99, S.D.= 1.234),
and, had social support from mass media at a moderate level ( ̅= 3.36, S.D.= 1.247). 2) Smoking
behavior of undergraduate students of a university in Phitsanulok province was found that the
samples had smoking behaviors at a moderate level ( ̅= 2.86, S.D.= 1.198). 3) The impact of
smoking among the undergraduate students of a university in Phitsanulok province the most
was the cause of various diseases such as allergies, chronic cough, etc., (19.20%). 4) Causal
relationship of smoking behavior among undergraduate students at a university in Phitsanulok
province revealed that knowledge and attitude towards smoking had a negative relation to smoking behaviors significantly at .01 (r = -0.258 and -0.465 respectively). In addition, the ability
to buy, accessibility, social support from family social support form peer, and social support
form mass media had a positive relation to smoking behaviors significantly at .01 (r = 0.351,
0.473, 0.576, 0.704 and 0.568 respectively).