Abstract
This study describes the relationships of smoking behavior among a sample of male college students in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to their religious practice, parents’ smoking behaviors and attitudes, peers’ smoking behaviors and attitudes, and knowledge about the dangers of smoking. A 49-item questionnaire was developed and pilot tested in KSA. This questionnaire was completed during the academic year 2013 by 715 undergraduate male students at the King Saud University in Riyadh. 29.8 % of the students were smokers (13.8 % cigarette smokers, 7.3 % sheesha smokers, and 27 % cigarette and sheesha smokers). Students in the College of Education were much more likely to be smokers than the students in the College of Science. The differences between the College of Education and the College of Science was statistically significant (χ 2 = 16.864. df = 1, p = .001). Logistic regression analysis suggested that students who were more faithful in their practice of Islam were 15 % less likely to smoke. Students who were more knowledgeable about the dangers of smoking were 8 % less likely to smoke. The logistic analysis identified peers (friends) as the most powerful factor in predicting smoking. The four-factor model had an overall classification accuracy of 78 %. The need to understand more fully the dynamics of peer relations among Saudi Arabian males as a basis for developing tobacco education/prevention programs. Prevention programs will need to include education and changes in the college level or earlier in KSA.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al Azhar, A., & Al, Sayed N. (2012). Prevalence of smoking among female medical students in Saudi Arabia. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 13(9), 4245–4248.
Al Ghobain, M. O., Al Moamary, M. S., Al Shehri, S. N., & Al-Hajjaj, M. S. (2011). Prevalence and characteristics of cigarette smoking among 16 to 18 years old boys and girls in Saudi Arabia. Annals of Thoracic Medicine, 6(3), 137–140. doi:10.4103/1817-1737.82447
Al Moamary, M. S., Al Ghobain, M. O., Al Shehri, S. N., Gasmelseed, A. Y., & Al-Hajjaj, M. S. (2012). Predicting tobacco use among high school students by using the global youth tobacco survey in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Annals of Thoracic Medicine, 7(3), 122–129. doi:10.4103/1817-1737.98843
Al Nohair, S. F. (2011). Prevalence of Smoking and its related behaviors and beliefs among secondary school students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Health Sciences, 5(1), 57.
AlBedah , A. M. N., & Khalil, M. K. M. (2014). The economic costs of tobacco consumption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tobacco Control, 23, 434–436. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050665.
Al-Kaabba, A. F., Saeed, A. A., Abdalla, A. M., Hassan, H. A., & Mustafa, A. A. (2011). Prevalence and associated factors of cigarette smoking among medical students at King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Family and Community Medicine, 18(1), 8–12.
Amin, T. T., Monhem Amr, M. A., & Zaza, B. O. (2011). Psychosocial predictors of smoking among secondary school students in Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 34, 339–350.
Bassiony, M. (2009). Smoking in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Medical Journal, 30, 876–881.
Giovino, G. A. (2002). Epidemiology of tobacco use in the United States. Oncogene, 21(48), 7326–7340.
Hamner, R. T., & Stumpfa, S. H. (2001). Survey of smoking knowledge, attitudes and practice in school children in Honduras. Familiy Practice, 18(6), 627–628.
Jarallah, J. S., Al-Rubeaan, K. A., Al-Nuaim, A. R., Al-Ruhaily, A. A., & Kalantan, K. A. (1999). Prevalence and determinants of smoking in three regions of Saudi Arabia. Tobacco Control, 8, 53–56.
Kong, G., Camenga, D., & Krishnan-Sarin, S. (2012). Parental influence on adolescent smoking cessation: Is there a gender difference? Addictive Behaviors, 37(2), 211–216.
Koura, M. R., Al-Dossary, A. F., & Bahnassy, A. A. (2011). Smoking pattern among female college students in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Family and Community Medicine, 18(2), 63–68. doi:10.4103/2230-8229.83370.
Luk, J. W., Farhat, T., Iannotti, R. J., & Simons-Morton, B. G. (2010). Parent–child communication and substance use among adolescents: Do father and mother communication play a different role for sons and daughters? Addictive Behaviors, 35, 426–431.
Mahabee-Gittens, E. M., Xiao, Y., Gordon, J. S., & Khoury, J. C. (2013). The dynamic role of parental influences in preventing adolescent smoking initiation. Addictive Behaviors, 38, 1905–1911.
Mandila, A., BinSaeeda, A., Ahmada, S., Al-Dabbagha, R., Alsaadib, M., & Khanc, M. (2010). Smoking among university students: A gender analysis. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 3, 179–187.
McFadden, D., Croghan, I. T., Piderman, K. M., Carl Lundstrom, C., Schroeder, D. R., & Taylor Hays, J. T. (2011). Spirituality in tobacco dependence: A Mayo clinic survey. Explore, 7, 162–167.
Park, H. K., Al- Agili, D. E., & Bartolucci, A. (2012). Factors affecting tobacco use among middle school students in Saudi Arabia. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16, 1828–1836.
Subhan, M. M., Al-Khlaiwi, T., & Ghandourah, S. O. (2009). Smoking among health science university students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Medical Journal, 30(12), 1610–1612.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000). Healthy People 2010: Understanding and improving Health. Washington, DC Author. Accessed 2 Oct 2013, http://www.healthy.gov/healthypeople.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010). A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: What It Means to You. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2010. Accessed 10 Oct 2013. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2010/.
Villanti, A., Marc Boulay, M., & Juon, H. S. (2011). Peer, parent and media influences on adolescent smoking by developmental stage. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 133–136.
Wali, S. O. (2011). Smoking habits among medical students in Western Saudi Arabia. Saudi Medical Journal, 32(8), 843–848.
World Health (WHO) (2013a). Tobacco. MPOWER measures. Accessed Sept 2013. www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/appendix_4_crude_adult_prevalence.xls.
World Health Organization (WHO); Global Health Observatory (2013b). Prevalence of tobacco use. Accessed Sept 2013. http://www.who.int/gho/tobacco/use/en/.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2013c). Tobacco. China smoking prevalence tobacco economy. Accessed Sept 2013. www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/China.pdf.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2013d). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2013. Accessed Sept 2013. http://www.who.int/tobacco/global_report/2013/en/.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2013e). WHO Tobacco factsheet. Updated 2013 July. Accessed Sept 2013. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/.
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (2013f). Saudi Arabia Profile. [Updated 2010 August]. Accessed 13 Sept 2013. http://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/policy/country_profile/sau.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Almutairi, K.M. Predicting Relationship of Smoking Behavior Among Male Saudi Arabian College Students Related to Their Religious Practice. J Relig Health 55, 469–479 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0003-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0003-z