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The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen
BACKGROUND: In Chinese culture, smoking can promote social connectedness and integration. We therefore hypothesized that smoking would be negatively associated with loneliness in China. Given that loneliness is common and associated with adverse academic and health outcomes in university freshmen, e...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
AME Publishing Company
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7290622/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32566586 http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-3523 |
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author | Zhang, Cheng-Lei Xu, Yan-Min Zhong, Bao-Liang |
author_facet | Zhang, Cheng-Lei Xu, Yan-Min Zhong, Bao-Liang |
author_sort | Zhang, Cheng-Lei |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: In Chinese culture, smoking can promote social connectedness and integration. We therefore hypothesized that smoking would be negatively associated with loneliness in China. Given that loneliness is common and associated with adverse academic and health outcomes in university freshmen, examining correlates of loneliness in this population may deepen our understanding on the etiology of loneliness. This study investigated the association between smoking and loneliness in Chinese university fresh students. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, by using a two-stage cluster sampling approach, we recruited a total of 1,452 fresh students from a comprehensive university in Wuhan, China. These students completed a self-administered questionnaire containing the Chinese six-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) and standardized questions on socio-demographics, internet use, and substance use, including smoking and use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Multiple linear regression was used to test the independent association of loneliness with smoking. RESULTS: In Chinese university freshmen, current smokers had significantly higher DJGLS scores than non-smokers (11.9±4.60 vs. 8.53±3.72, t=7.351, P<0.001). After controlling for socio-demographic variables, current drinking, lifetime illicit drug use, and daily hours of internet use, the positive association between current smoking and DJGLS score remained statistically significant (unstandardized coefficient: 3.053, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking is independently and positively associated with loneliness in Chinese university freshmen. Smoking cessation might be helpful for preventing and reducing loneliness among Chinese university fresh students. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7290622 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | AME Publishing Company |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-72906222020-06-19 The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen Zhang, Cheng-Lei Xu, Yan-Min Zhong, Bao-Liang Ann Transl Med Original Article BACKGROUND: In Chinese culture, smoking can promote social connectedness and integration. We therefore hypothesized that smoking would be negatively associated with loneliness in China. Given that loneliness is common and associated with adverse academic and health outcomes in university freshmen, examining correlates of loneliness in this population may deepen our understanding on the etiology of loneliness. This study investigated the association between smoking and loneliness in Chinese university fresh students. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, by using a two-stage cluster sampling approach, we recruited a total of 1,452 fresh students from a comprehensive university in Wuhan, China. These students completed a self-administered questionnaire containing the Chinese six-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) and standardized questions on socio-demographics, internet use, and substance use, including smoking and use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Multiple linear regression was used to test the independent association of loneliness with smoking. RESULTS: In Chinese university freshmen, current smokers had significantly higher DJGLS scores than non-smokers (11.9±4.60 vs. 8.53±3.72, t=7.351, P<0.001). After controlling for socio-demographic variables, current drinking, lifetime illicit drug use, and daily hours of internet use, the positive association between current smoking and DJGLS score remained statistically significant (unstandardized coefficient: 3.053, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking is independently and positively associated with loneliness in Chinese university freshmen. Smoking cessation might be helpful for preventing and reducing loneliness among Chinese university fresh students. AME Publishing Company 2020-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7290622/ /pubmed/32566586 http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-3523 Text en 2020 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Original Article Zhang, Cheng-Lei Xu, Yan-Min Zhong, Bao-Liang The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen |
title | The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen |
title_full | The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen |
title_fullStr | The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen |
title_full_unstemmed | The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen |
title_short | The association between smoking and loneliness among Chinese university freshmen |
title_sort | association between smoking and loneliness among chinese university freshmen |
topic | Original Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7290622/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32566586 http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-3523 |
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