Correlates of cigarette smoking among male Chinese college students in China--a preliminary study

The main purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the association between four constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) (i.e. perceived severity of smoking-related health problems, perceived susceptibility to smoking-health related problems, perceived barriers to non-smoking and perceived benefits of non-smoking) and cigarette smoking among male Chinese college students. Cross-sectional data were originally collected from 521 Chinese college students at one university in Wuhu, People's Republic of China, but only 253 students ' data were used for analysis. Results of t-test showed that there were significant differences in perceived severity ([t.sub.(249)] = -2.16, p =.03), barriers ([t.sub.(249)] = 2.49, p =.01), and benefits ([t.sub.(246)] = -2.51, p =.01) between male smokers and non-smokers. Results of multivariate logistic regression analysis also indicated that perceived barriers (adjusted OR = 1.81, CI = 1.09 - 3.02) and benefits (adjusted OR = 0.61, CI = 0.41 - 0.92) toward non-smoking were good correlates (p