Clearing the air: American Indian tribal college students' exposure to second hand smoke & attitudes towards smoke free campus policies

J Am Coll Health. 2018 Feb-Mar;66(2):133-140. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2017.1399893. Epub 2018 Feb 1.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge, awareness, and support for campus smoke-free policies.

Participants: 1,256 American Indian tribal college students from three tribal colleges in the Midwest and Northern Plains.

Methods: Data are from an observational cross-sectional study of American Indian tribal college students, collected through a web-based survey.

Results: Only 40% of tribal college students reported not being exposed to second hand smoke in the past 7 days. A majority of nonsmokers (66%) agreed or strongly agreed with having a smoke-free campus, while 34.2% of smokers also agreed or strongly agreed. Overall, more than a third (36.6%) of tribal college students were not aware of their campus smoking policies.

Conclusions: Tribal campuses serving American Indian students have been much slower in adopting smoke-free campus policies. Our findings show that tribal college students would support a smoke-free campus policy.

Keywords: American Indian; campus tobacco free policies; second-hand smoke; tribal campuses.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Attitude to Health
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Indians, North American / psychology*
  • Indians, North American / statistics & numerical data
  • Male
  • Smoke-Free Policy*
  • Smoking / epidemiology
  • Smoking / psychology*
  • Smoking Prevention / methods*
  • Students / psychology
  • Universities / statistics & numerical data
  • Young Adult