Influences on smoking behaviour of adolescents and young adults in a Nigerian university

The study investigated whether parenting style, parental level of education and smoking peers have any influence on the smoking behaviour of adolescents and young adults. The participants were students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the sample selection. Three hundred students who consented participated in the study. A self constructed questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the instrument was determined. The reliability of the instrument was also determined using test retest method. Correlation co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained. This study revealed that there is a significant influence of parenting style on the smoking behaviour of students (x2 = 36.03, df = 6, p ≤ 0.05). It also showed that there is a significant relationship between parents’ educational attainment and students’ smoking behaviour (x2 = 60.40, df = 6, p ≤ 0.05). Finally, it was revealed that there was a significant influence of peers on smoking behaviour (x2 = 19.97, df = 2, p ≤ 0.05). KEY WORDS: Smoking, Behaviour, Parent, Adolescent, University