Abstract
A Comparative Study of Anxiety Level among Smoker and Non-Smoker Students in Institute of Medical Technology-Baghdad, Iraq
Author(s): Kawther Salman Dawood*Background: Smoking and its health consequences are among the most important and serious public health problems all around the world, where smoking contributes to increased anxiety levels among cigarette smokers. In addition, there is a lack of studies about smoking among college students in Iraq.
Objective: This study was conducted to assess the smoking behavior among smoker students, level of anxiety among smoker and non-smoker students, and to find out the difference in level of anxiety among smoker students as compared with non – smoker students.
Methodology: A purposive (non-probability) sample of (140) male students who were tobacco cigarette smokers and (50) male students who were non – smokers and never smoked before from the Institute of Medical Technology – Baghdad.
Result: This study revealed that more than half of students smoked between (11-20) cigarettes per a day, and the highest percentage of them were smoked before (3-4) years ago. Majority of smoker students initiated smoking because of peer influence from friends. The study shows that (40%) of smoker students have moderate levels of anxiety while a half of non-smokers students don’t have anxiety. The anxiety level increased among smoker students as compared with non-smoker students.
Conclusion: The result of the current study shows that there was a significant difference in level of anxiety between smoker and non-smoker students.
Recommendation: Emphasizing the role of educational counselors in the educational institutions in assisting youth students how to deal with their social and psychological problems and learning them new coping strategies instead of smoking.