ABSTRACT
Background: Smoking in adolescents is related to multiple factors like genetics, family variables and peerpreference and influence. The aim of the following study was to study the prevalence of smoking and age ofinitiation college students while comparing peer preferences in smoker and non-smoker college students.Methods: 100 college students were divided on the basis of current smoking status into two groups. Thesetwo groups were administered the Evers-Pasquale peer preference test and the Global Youth Tobacco Survey(GYTS). Sociodemographic variables were assessed using a semi-structured proforma. The data was thenstatistically analysed.Results: The prevalence of current smoking was 54%. Almost 44% of college students had initiated smokingat or after 16 years of age, whereas only 4% of the entire sample had initiated smoking before 10 years ofage. Close to one fifth (18.52%) of current smokers smoked daily and smoked cigarettes first in morningsuggesting dependence. Students who currently smoked were most likely to engage in any activity in thecompany of best friends, followed by cool friends (p = 0.0001).Conclusion: Smoking and peer pressure are linked and there is a need for tobacco intervention programmesto be directed at adolescent specific factors. Further research is needed to understand other factors promotingsmoking like personality factors, social influence, genetic factors etc.