The Environmental Context of Smoking: Measuring Social Capital in College

描述（由申请人提供）：大学生有开始吸烟的风险，目前偶尔吸烟者有发展为重度吸烟或每日吸烟的风险。环境被认为对吸烟的开始和维持有影响，但个人吸烟行为和大学环境之间的相互作用在很大程度上是未知的。本项目的目的是确定大学环境的元素，导致摄取和维持吸烟行为的学生使用社会资本理论，了解学生如何参与他们的校园环境。目前，研究人员还没有可用的工具来衡量社会资本对大学校园特有的健康行为的影响。本研究的主要目的是开发一种测量大学生社会资本的工具，并以此来评估大学生社会资本与健康行为，特别是吸烟之间的关系。本研究的目的是：（1）探讨大学生社会资本结构及相关概念的质的意义;（2）开发大学生社会资本多维度测量工具;（3）检验大学生社会资本与吸烟的关系。我们希望，大学生社会资本工具的发展将有助于增加校园环境和个人特征之间的相互关系的理解，因为它们涉及到大学生吸烟行为。这种理解可以为社区一级的吸烟预防和戒烟干预提供信息，以取得更好和更有效的结果。 公共卫生相关性：吸烟模式和其他健康风险行为指向社区水平的影响。了解个人层面的社区参与和社区层面的环境因素如何运作（使用社会资本理论）是制定有效的社区预防和戒烟干预措施的关键一步。大学生特别容易受到高风险行为的影响，如果我们能够首先了解社会资本如何为学生发挥作用，那么大学可以在早期干预吸烟方面发挥关键作用，以防止终身发病率和死亡率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): College students are at risk for cigarette smoking initiation and current occasional smokers are at risk of progression to heavy or daily smoking. The environment is recognized to have an influence on smoking initiation and maintenance, but the interaction between individual smoking behaviors and the college environment is largely unknown. The purpose of this project is to identify elements of the college environment that lead to the uptake and maintenance of smoking behaviors in students using social capital theory to understand how students engage in their campus environment. Currently, there are no instruments available for researchers to measure the impact of social capital on health behaviors that is unique to college campuses. The primary goal of this project is to develop an instrument to measure social capital in college students which can then be used to assess the relationship between social capital and health behaviors in college students, specifically, cigarette use. The AIMS of the study 1) to explore the qualitative meaning of social capital constructs and related concepts among college students, 2) to develop an instrument to measure the multiple dimensions of social capital in college students, and 3) to examine the relationship between social capital and cigarette use in college students. We expect that the development of a college student social capital instrument will serve to increase understanding of the inter-relations between campus environment and individual characteristics as they relate to smoking behaviors in college students. Such understanding can inform community-level smoking prevention and cessation interventions in order to achieve better and more efficient outcomes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Patterns of cigarette smoking and other health risk behaviors point to community-level influences. Understanding how community engagement at an individual-level and environmental factors at a community- level operate (using Social Capital Theory) are a critical step to develop effective community interventions for smoking prevention and cessation. College students are particularly vulnerable to high risk behaviors, and colleges can play a key role in early intervention of smoking in order to prevent morbidity and mortality across the lifespan if we can first understand how social capital functions for students.