Extending animal models to explore social rewards associated with designated smoking areas on college campuses

Influence of a University Tobacco-Free Policy on the Attitudes, Perceptions of Compliance, and Policy Benefit Among the University Students: A Pre-Post Investigation

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a university tobacco-free policy by examining differences in students' attitudes, perceptions of compliance and policy benefits, after one year of the policy's implementation. Methods: Cross-sectional studies were undertaken to collect data pre- and 1 year post-policy implementation. The two samples were selected using stratified random sampling. Results: The prevalence of smoking decreased from 26% pre-policy implementation to 21% 1 year after (p = 0.035). The proportion of smokers who thought the policy had contributed to a reduction in smoking frequency increased from 10% to 70% (p < 0.001). Smokers' support for the policy rose from 42 to 58% (p = 0.007). Conclusion: Against the background of a strongly pro-tobacco environment in Lebanon, it is possible to create a positive change in the mindset of smokers at the levels of the education and smoking cessation and more efforts should be expended to bring it about.

Social Learning and Addiction

Social learning theory, as originally proposed by Albert Bandura, followed 2000 years of intellectual inquiry into the determinants of human behavior. Reciprocal determinism is a central component of this theory and proposes that human behavior is determined by functional relationships between (1) personal factors, (2) the external environment, and (3) the behavior itself. Using this model, drug addiction can be viewed as resulting from the functional relationships between an individual's personal characteristics, social environment, and drug-centric behaviors. In other words, addiction can be viewed as a chronically evolving biopsychosocial disorder, encompassing dimensions that are both internal and external to the individual. Effective treatment interventions should thus target all nodes of the model and the functional relationships between them, and they must constantly evolve with the progression of the disorder. An argument is thus constructed that emphasizes the need for an organized structure of metacontingencies, operating within an individual's social environment, that targets the functional relationships between the factors that drive drug use. Optimally, these metacontingencies would operate within socially connected individuals who have the power to control the functional relationships that influence drug use, the vested interest to monitor individual and collective outcomes, the skills to determine what moment-to-moment decisions are needed to influence behavioral change, and the relative permanence necessary to carry through with the implementation of new strategies to produce outcomes that are cumulatively significant.

Student Tobacco Use Behaviors on College Campuses by Strength of Tobacco Campus Policies

PURPOSE

To examine the association between strength of policy and self-reported tobacco use behavior, controlling for demographic characteristics, polytobacco use, knowledge of campus tobacco policy, and perceived policy compliance by others.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, online survey.

SETTING

Ten participating State University of New York (SUNY) campuses; 5 with designated smoking/tobacco use areas and 5 with 100% tobacco-free policies.

SUBJECTS

Convenience sample of students from SUNY campuses: only tobacco users (N = 576 students) included for analysis.

MEASURES

Items assessing tobacco use behaviors on campus, policy knowledge, and observation of others using tobacco on campus.

ANALYSIS

T tests and chi-square tests of association used to compare responses between tobacco users across campuses. Generalized estimating equations modeling used to evaluate predictors of tobacco use on campus; model estimated with students nested within campus.

RESULTS

Those on campuses without a comprehensive policy were more likely to report (in the past week) having seen others smoke on campus (98% vs 69%, P < .001), having personally smoked on campus (65% vs 36%, P < .001), and seeing others use tobacco products on campus (88% vs 67%, P < .001), compared to those on tobacco-free campuses.

CONCLUSION

Tobacco-free campus policies provide numerous protective factors for tobacco users and nonusers. However, compliance strategies are imperative for intended policy success.

Smoking, health and academic outcomes: evidence from a limited smoking campus policy

Although there is substantial literature on the impact of smoking laws, the number of studies that investigate the impact of such policies on college campuses is sparse. Using a rich data set from various waves of the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment survey for a mid-sized public university in the southern United States, we investigate a possible causal link between a limited smoking policy and smoking behaviours, health and academic outcomes among college students. We employ propensity score matching methods to control for endogeneity of unobservable characteristics. Our results show a significant reduction in the propensity to smoke cigarettes and cigars following the introduction of the policy. Further, we find that the policy has increased academic outcomes; however, it has no significant effect on student health. These findings have important policy implications for schools that are considering instituting comprehensive smoking bans on college.

Social learning promotes nicotine self-administration by facilitating the extinction of conditioned aversion in isogenic strains of rats

Both social environment and genetic factors are critical for smoking initiation and nicotine addiction. We reported that rats developed conditioned flavor (i.e., taste and odor) aversion to intravenously self-administered (IVSA) nicotine, and that social learning promoted nicotine IVSA with flavor cues. We thus tested the hypothesis that socially acquired nicotine IVSA is a heritable trait by using female rats of six inbred strains and six F1 hybrids. Each strain was tested for 10 daily IVSA sessions. We found that the intake of nicotine (15 and 30 μg/kg/inf) varied among these strains by 33.7–56.6-fold. The heritability of nicotine intake was estimated to be 0.54–0.65. Further, there was a strong correlation in nicotine intake (R² = 0.85, p < 0.0001) between the two nicotine doses. Another cohort of rats was given three daily IVSA sessions followed by five sessions that tested conditioned flavor aversion. Nicotine intake was highly correlated with the extinction of the conditioned aversion (R² = 0.58, p < 0.005). These data showed that nicotine intake in the socially acquired nicotine self-administration model is controlled by genetic factors and that the role of social learning is likely in facilitating the extinction of conditioned aversive response to nicotine.

College anti-smoking policies and student smoking behavior: a review of the literature

Background

Currently, most college campuses across the U.S. in some way address on-campus cigarette smoking, mainly through policies that restrict smoking on campus premises. However, it is not well understood whether college-level anti-smoking policies help reduce cigarette smoking among students. In addition, little is known about policies that may have an impact on student smoking behavior. This study attempted to address these issues through a literature review.

Methods

A systematic literature review was performed. To identify relevant studies, the following online databases were searched using specific keywords: Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Studies that met the exclusion and inclusion criteria were selected for review. Studies were not excluded based on the type of anti-smoking policy studied.

Results

Total 11 studies were included in the review. The majority of the studies (54.5%) were cross-sectional in design, 18% were longitudinal, and the rest involved counting cigarette butts or smokers. Most studies represented more women than men and more Whites than individuals of other ethnic/racial groups. The majority (54.5%) of the studies evaluated 100% smoke-free or tobacco-free campus policies. Other types of policies studied included the use of partial smoking restriction and integration of preventive education and/or smoking cessation programs into college-level policies. As far as the role of campus smoking policies on reducing student smoking behavior is concerned, the results of the cross-sectional studies were mixed. However, the results of the two longitudinal studies reviewed were promising in that policies were found to significantly reduce smoking behavior and pro-smoking attitudes over time.

Conclusion

More longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the role of college anti-smoking policies on student smoking behavior. Current data indicate that stricter, more comprehensive policies, and policies that incorporate prevention and cessation programming, produce better results in terms of reducing smoking behavior.