Dual Tobacco Use among College Students: Contexts of Use, Self-Perceptions, and Attitudes Toward Quitting

Abstract

Aggressive marketing of smokeless tobacco (SLT) appears to have led to an increase in dual tobacco use. The current study examines the situational contexts, self-perceptions, and cessation attitudes/behaviors that relate to dual use. Participants (N = 1,242) at a large, Southwestern university completed a self-report measure of demographic and tobacco use variables in 2010. Data were analyzed using chi-square and one-way ANOVA techniques. Findings suggest that type of tobacco use varies by setting and that dual users are more likely than sole users to perceive themselves as regular tobacco users. Limitations and implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

Keywords :

• cigarettes
• smoking
• smokeless tobacco
• dual use
• college students

THE AUTHORS

Mary Beth Miller is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Oklahoma State University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Thad Leffingwell. She earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology and Spanish from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri in 2009. Her primary research goal is to understand the etiology of substance use disorders in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of prevention and treatment. She has studied tobacco and e-cigarette use among college students as well as high-risk drinking and brief motivational interventions.

William V. Lechner is a fifth-year graduate student whose primary interests involve examining the relationship between anxiety and addiction. He is particularly interested in utilizing psychophysiological techniques (e.g., affective modulation of the startle response) to examine this area of research. His master's thesis examined the influence of stress and anxiety on the modulation of the startle response to drug cues in a nicotine-dependent sample. More recently, he has been studying the relationship between psychopathology and addiction in an inpatient drug treatment center in Washington, D.C. Additionally, he has been involved with the Marketing Department in an ongoing study examining trends in drug use on the Oklahoma State University campus.

Ellen Meier, M. S., is a Fourth year Clinical Psychology doctoral student at Oklahoma State University primarily investigating health behavior change. She has completed several research projects examining general tobacco use (i.e., smoking, smokeless tobacco, and Hookah) and e-cigarettes among college students, community members, and at “vape” or e-cigarette stores. Additionally, she has research experience examining alcohol misuse among college students and brief motivational interventions for health behavior change. She is also an active scholar involved in the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center (OTRC).

Raymond P. Tucker is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at Oklahoma State University working with Dr. LaRicka Wingate. Raymond completed his undergraduate education at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he received his B.A. degree in Psychology. Raymond earned his M.S. degree at Oklahoma State University in 2012. His research interests include the interplay between cognitive and interpersonal risk factors for suicidal thinking, such as attention and memory biases, humor styles, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and rumination. He is also interested in the study of indirect measures of suicide risk.

Josh L. Wiener is Carson professor of business and head of the department of marketing at Oklahoma State University. He is currently an associate editor of the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing; his past research has been published in outlets such as Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and Nicotine and Tobacco Research. He has been the PI or CO-PI on grants from both state health agencies and federal agencies such as DOD, DOL, HHS, NSF, DOA, and NIDA. He was the co-creator/co-chair of the initial Marketing and Public Policy Risk Workshop; co-chair of the 2000 Marketing and Public Policy Conference, and co-chair of the 2011 AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium.

GLOSSARY

• Dual tobacco use: Concurrent use of two tobacco products (e.g., cigarettes and SLT).

• Dual users: Participants who reported use of both cigarettes and SLT in the past 30 days.

• Fraternity/sorority membership: Association with an organized group of college student men or women who pledge affiliation with one another based on common goals and aspirations.

• Self-perceptions of risk: Perception of one's own personal risk of addiction, dependence, or health problems due to use of tobacco products.

• Situational context of tobacco use: Places, activities, or emotions that drive or motivate someone to use tobacco.

• Smokeless tobacco (SLT): Form of tobacco that may be chewed, insufflated, or applied to the skin rather than smoked. Common forms of SLT include chewing tobacco, dip, snuff, and snus.

• Sole tobacco use: The use of only one form of tobacco (e.g., only using SLT).

• Tobacco cessation: To stop or end one's use of tobacco.