Gender, locus of control and smoking habits of undergraduate students

Abstract

Health psychologists believe that a significant proportion of human morbidity and mortality could be significantly reduced and humans’ quality of life greatly enhanced if people could be helped to correct their health-impairing habits and behaviours, such as smoking and other forms of substance abuse. The present study investigated the influence of gender and locus of control on smoking habit of 230 smoking student-patrons of two relaxation centers in Ago-Iwoye, the host community of Olabisi Onabanjo University. Participants were 137 (59.6%) male and 93 (40.4%) female students with a mean age of 24.93 (SD = 4.58). Relevant data were collected using snowballing technique over an eight-week period, with a standardized, three-sectioned questionnaire. Results showed that locus of control had a significant influence on smoking habit {t (2,226) = 21.21,
p<0.05}, with internals reporting significantly and relatively higher on smoking habits than externals. Results further showed that there was no significant difference of gender on smoking
habit among undergraduate students {t (2,228) = 3.83, p>0.05}. These and other findings in the study were discussed and their implications for intervention programmes on smoking reduction or (and) cessation were highlighted.

Key Words: Smoking habits, student-patrons, locus of control, gender, Ago-Iwoye