A research has revealed that "fun" images of hookah smoking make students ignore health harms.
According to the new University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study, educational campaigns meant to dissuade college students from initiating hookah tobacco smoking may be more successful if they combat positive perceptions of hookah use as attractive and romantic, rather than focusing solely on the harmful components of hookah tobacco smoke.
The research, supported by the National Cancer Institute, examined the sequence of events around which university students first smoke tobacco from a hookah, also known as a water pipe, in an effort to determine the driving factors behind the decision.
Lead author Jaime Sidani, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior research specialist in the Program for Research on Media and Health (PROMH) at Pitt, said it was surprising to learn that college students, even when they were aware of the health dangers associated with hookah tobacco smoking at baseline, still went on to use a hookah for the first time.
Sidani said, however, students who had less positive attitudes toward hookah smoking were significantly less likely to initiate. This suggests that countering positive attitudes may be at least as effective as emphasizing harm in preventing initiation of hookah tobacco smoking.
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Dr. Sidani and her colleagues analyzed a sample of 569 first- and second-year University of Florida college students who were surveyed twice over a seven-month period about their attitudes, knowledge and behaviors regarding hookah smoking. During that time, 13 percent of the students initiated hookah tobacco use.
The students were more likely to initiate hookah use if they had positive attitudes toward hookah smoking - which is frequently promoted as relaxing, pleasurable, fun and sexual - and if they thought it was a socially acceptable practice among their peers.
The study has been published online in the journal Nicotine andTobacco Research.
