Industry News: Number of USC smokers on rise

While the number of University of Southern California students who smoke cigarettes has doubled in the past decade, the perceived number of smokers on campus is much higher, a recent health survey found.

Twenty-two percent of USC students claimed last spring to have smoked a cigarette in the last month, according to an American College Health Association survey of 1,000 USC students, which the university received in August. A 1989 survey found that only 11 percent of students had smoked in that same time period, said Paula Swinford, director of Health Promotion and Prevention Services at the Student Health Center.

However, students perceive the campus smoking rate to be much higher, responding to the survey that they believe 90 percent of students had smoked cigarettes within the last month.

The perception that cigarette smokers constitute a majority on campus probably contributes to the rising trend, Swinford said.

Most students want to fit in socially, and when they perceive that such a high number smoke, they also take up the habit, she said. Then, once they start, it is difficult to quit.

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