Cigarettes and Drinking: The Age-Old Campus Connection

It's easy to dismiss as just a phase the drinks and smokes you have while 19 and "having fun." But according to a University of Arizona associate anthropology professor, Dr. Mimi Nichter, the detrimental habits that develop throughout college are alarmingly capable of turning into lasting problems, especially when the habits reinforce each other.

Dr. Nichter and her colleagues wanted to "unpack" the issue of tobacco use in association with alcohol because, as she said, "It's only when you start to understand why people do something and how they talk about it that you can begin to address some of the issues." The most pressing issue being the role of alcohol in tobacco adoption and addiction.

In an article titled "Smoking and Drinking Among College Students: 'It's a Package Deal,' " Dr. Nichter, along with Mark Nichter, an Arizona regents' professor of anthropology, and their colleagues explain the research they conducted, primarily focusing on "party smokers" and the "perceived social and physical utility functions of smoking and drinking at parties." The researchers used data to define "party smokers" as those who "reported smoking on four or more of the weeks that they completed the survey by the middle of first semester, and smoked more than two-thirds of their reported cigarettes in a party context."

In the study, freshmen students at a large Midwestern college were followed throughout their academic year. The researchers invited students who had smoked at least one or two puffs of a cigarette in their lifetime to participate. Participating students were required to complete 35 consecutive weekly surveys, in which they reported their weekly substance intake.

Based on an analysis of the weekly diaries, 86 percent indicated a "significant association between reports of smoking and drinking within a day, and data supported a greater likelihood of a bidirectional relationship between alcohol and smoking than that of a unidirectional relationship."

The students admitted to a litany of reasons for lighting up, as varied as the personalities found on campus, and often tied to the drink found in their other hand. Some did it out "of boredom," while others sought the "boost [in] self-confidence." Some appreciated how cigarettes "make [them] look like [they're] doing something," others wanted to fill the "moment before starting [to drink] again." Some focused on how, when drinking, "smoking puts you in a mellower mood," and allows one to "get some control."

Since the Greek system at the college being studied was found to be an extremely widespread presence on campus, and many of the parties took place at their houses, sorority and fraternity members were asked to participate in focus groups. The focus groups concentrated on such topics as the popularity of smoking cigarettes amid house members, spoken and unspoken house guidelines regarding smoking and alcohol use, and smoking at parties.

The results indicate that the desired effects of concurrently smoking and drinking include assisting social interaction between genders, helping to moderate conversation, enabling participants to "structure time and space at a party," allowing party smokers to smoke with fewer negative side effects, aiding in suppressing the feeling of being drunk, and helping to stay awake.

But while smoking cigarettes may benefit confidence, conversations, comfort, and clumsiness, "every cigarette is harmful to their health," Dr. Nichter said. There are all sorts of ways that the addiction can grow, she said, and there's no way to know "how or when you might slip into something more."

Dr. Nichter asserted that prevention in the United States does not match the timing and onset of smoking, often taking place as early as middle school. It is her belief that such intervention should occur senior year of high school or on college campuses. She is aware of the challenge, though, finding that "when you're in college, a lot of people don't want to quit."

Dr. Nichter alluded to a general notion among student party smokers that "when I graduate, I'm not going to do this anymore." But tobacco's addictiveness makes the desired transformation from college student to non-smoking, functioning adult more difficult than potentially anticipated. Whether it's the benefit of cigarettes as a social lubricant, job-related stress, or anxiety about the future, there always seems to be a reason to push back that hovering quit date.

Dr. Nichter said some people smoked and drank to keep from doing other things. They don't want to do drugs but they want to be with their friends, so they resort to smoking and drinking, considering them "the lesser of two evils." But the magnitude of tobacco's harmfulness should not be overlooked.

"Tobacco is the biggest preventable cause of death," she said. "It's one of the biggest public health problems that we have on the planet."

The various reasons for smoking do not counterbalance the destructive and addictive effects of tobacco. Even at very low levels, you can become addicted to tobacco.

"Don't think that smoking at parties is no big deal," Dr. Nichter warned, "because it is a big deal."