ABSTRACT This study evaluated the perceptions of Nigerian university students concerning the influence of cigarette advertisement on their smoking habit. It also assessed the influences of smokers’ age and significant others on their smoking habits. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and focus group discussion (FGD) technique from 566 smokers (503 males and 63 females) selected from among students of six universities in south- western Nigeria. Information obtained from the FGD was analysed qualitatively and presented in this study. Specifically, responses from the FGD was analysed based on the following: History of student’s smoking habit, perceived smoking benefits, health hazards of smoking, advertisement and smoking, roles of families, friends and peers in preventing or promoting smoking habit and attitudes of smokers towards anti-smoking regulations in the country. The study concluded that cigarette advertisement had substantial influence on smoking habit among students in the Nigerian universities. Implications of the findings for designing smoking intervention programmes targeted at the youth are discussed.

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“Light” and “low tar” cigarettes have been designed by the tobacco industry to allay smokers’ concerns about the health risks of smoking. Few studies have examined which factors lead smokers to believe that “light” cigarettes are less harmful. In particular few studies have addressed whether the belief that “light” cigarettes are smoother predicts the belief that “light” cigarettes are less harmful. There is some evidence that this relation should exist especially given that the belief that “light” cigarettes are smoother has been used to market these cigarettes and there is a natural association between smoother and less harmful. I conducted 7 studies to examine various aspects of the relation between the sensory belief that “light,” “low tar” or your own brand of cigarettes is smoother and the belief that “light,” “low tar” or your own brand of cigarettes is less harmful. Study 1 used Wave 1 to Wave longitudinal data from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey (ITC-4) to demonstrate that smokers in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia who believe that “light” cigarettes are smoother at Wave 1 are significantly more likely to believe that “light” cigarettes are less harmful at Wave 2 (p=0.002, OR=1.59 95% CI 1.19-2.12). Study 2 used Wave 1 cross-sectional data from the International Tobacco Control China Survey (ITC China) to demonstrate that smokers in China who believe that “light” and/or “low tar” cigarettes are smoother are significantly more likely to believe that “light” and/or “low tar” cigarettes are less harmful (p<0.001, OR=62.86 95% CI 47.65-82.91). Study 3 used Wave 1-Wave 2 longitudinal data from the ITC China Survey to demonstrate that smokers in China who believe that “light” and/or “low tar” cigarettes are smoother at Wave 1 are significantly more likely to believe that “light” and/or “low tar” cigarettes are less harmful at Wave 2 (p=0.02 OR=1.63 95% CI 1.10-2.43). Study 4 used Wave 3 cross-sectional data from the North American Student Smoking Survey (NASSS) to demonstrate that adolescent smokers in North America who believe that “light” cigarettes are smoother believe that “light” cigarettes are healthier (p<0.001 OR=3.96 95% CI 2.92-5.36), and in a separate model, that the belief that “light” cigarettes are less harsh also predicts the belief that “light” cigarettes are healthier (p<0.001, OR=5.45 95% CI 4.34-6.84). Study 5 used Wave 3 to Wave 4 longitudinal data from the North American Student Smoking Survey (NASSS) to demonstrate that adolescent smokers in North America who believe that “light” cigarettes are less harsh at Wave 3 predicts the belief that “light” cigarettes are healthier at Wave 4 (p=0.02, OR=1.72 95% CI 1.08-2.72). Studies 6 and 7 examined how the personalized belief that your own brand of cigarettes is smoother related to the belief that your own brand of cigarettes is less harmful. Study 6 used cross-sectional data from Wave 6 of the ITC Four Country Survey in Canada only. Study 6 demonstrated that smokers who believed that their own brand of cigarettes is smoother were significantly more likely to say that their brand of cigarettes is less harmful (p=0.004, OR=2.23 95% CI 1.29-3.86). Study 7 used cross-sectional data from Wave 2 of the ITC China Survey to demonstrate that smokers who believed that their own brand of cigarettes is smoother believed that their brand of cigarettes is less harmful (p<0.001, OR=5.10 95% CI 3.69-7.03). The findings from this dissertation demonstrate the importance of implementing tobacco control policies that address cigarette design and marketing that provide the impression that a cigarette is smoother and therefore less harmful.

Homeless individuals are some of the most marginalized Canadians and most likely to use tobacco daily. The transient nature of homeless smokers contributes to marginalization within health care as well as tobacco control strategies. The purpose of this study was to describe acquisition and smoking behaviors of homeless individuals as a first step in developing essential research evidence to inform tobacco control strategies relevant to this vulnerable population. This ethnographic study investigated the everyday reality of 15 male homeless individuals living in the Salvation Army Shelter in Winnipeg. Tobacco use was explored against their environmental and social contexts, homeless smokers used an informal street-based economy for acquisition, and smoking behaviors were high risk for infectious diseases with sharing and smoking discarded cigarettes. Tobacco control strategies that consider homeless individuals have the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality along with diminishing inequitable health burdens with this population.

In New Zealand, cardiovascular disease is higher among Maori and Pacific peoples than other ethnic group. Researchers in Cardiology documented that CVD begins early in a person’s life and that a person's risk of cardiovascular disease is determined by risk factors that contribute to a form of CVD over time. This thesis, “The Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adolescents of Christchurch: A Cross-Sectional Survey (CRFAC)”, is the first of its kind in the South Island, and was designed to estimate the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease for adolescent high school students in New Zealand. The aims of the study were to determine cardiovascular risk factor levels between, Pacific, Asian, Maori, and European students, with the Pacific communities including (Samoan, Cook Islands, Tongan, and Niuean). The CRFAC was a school-based cross-sectional survey of 1051 adolescent students, across nine Christchurch High Schools. The study specifically aimed to determine ethnic-specific differences in lifestyle and intermediate variables that have been established as cardiovascular risks. Variables included: smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), television exposure, and sun exposure, and body mass index (BMI). Demographic variables analyzed included: form (level of education), gender, ethnic group, and socioeconomic status. In regards to smoking and alcohol consumption, Maori had the highest rates overall 77% and 88%, respectfully. As for LTPA, the type of activity that was participated in varied between sex and ethnicity. For instance, netball was played predominately more for females than males, and rugby was played more so by European/Pakehas than compared to Asians. Maori and Pacific also had a higher proportion 43.4% and 33.7%, respectively, who watched TV four or more hours per week day on average compared to the other ethnicities. Sun exposure varied strongly with ethnicity, with Asian students having a smaller proportion 20.1% in the high daily sun exposure category compared with Maori 40.8 % daily (p< 0.001). The CRFAC study results showed that demographic variables were associated with the intermediate variables: lifestyle and BMI. The findings showed that there were substantive ethnic variations between the four main ethnic groups (Pacific, Maori, Asian and European) in risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The CRFAC study was able to identify contributing factors, for which gave the investigator clarity to possible reasons for ethnic differences in BMI. The CRFAC study results showed that Pacific participants had the highest BMI levels of all the ethnic groups, followed by Maori.

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the study investigated the influence of nonsmokers' argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness levels on their compliance-gaining message selection. Second, the study examined compliance-gaining usage on the basis of two additional independent variables -- agent and target gender. One hundred fifty-four participants completed instrumentation consisting of seven pages. The instrumentation included the Modified Argumentativeness Scale, the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, the Nonsmoking Compliance-Gaining Scale, demographic and smoking questions.A median split was used to dichotomize both argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness into the two categories of high and low. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the first three hypotheses which made predictions about compliance-gaining strategy use on the basis of the agent's argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness levels. None of the ANOVAs produced significance between high and low argumentativeness. However, there was significance between high and low verbal aggressives. Specifically, high verbal aggressives reported greater use of a variety of compliance-gaining strategies than did low verbal aggressives.The second set of hypotheses made predictions about compliance-gaining strategy use on the basis of the agent's and target's gender. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and univariate analyses were used to test these hypotheses. Males reported greater use of the explanation, direct request, and threat strategies when the target was of the same sex than did females. When the target was of the opposite sex, males reported more use of the threat strategy than did females. An interaction was found with threat. Both men and women reported using the threat strategy more when the target was male.Some of these findings were contradictory to previous research. Sprowl (1984) did not find a distinction between compliance-gaining strategies on the basis of target gender. Further research should examine the effects of agent and target gender on compliance-gaining usage. Additionally, high verbal aggressives reported using positive strategies. Infante and Rancer (1982) described verbal aggressiveness as a negative phenomena. Hence, future research needs to explore the potential positive traits of verbally aggressive individuals. / Department of Speech Communication

This study investigated the relationship of cigarette smoking to selected performance and personality factors among 151 university students. Smokers and nonsmokers were compared by means of individual t tests with regard to grade point average, verbal and quantitative SAT scores, and the 11; scales of the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI). The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups on 8 of the 114 OPI scales: Theoretical Orientation, Complexity, Autonomy, Religious Orientation, Impulse Expression, Personal Integration, Altruism, and Practical Outlook. No significant differences, however, were found between smokers and nonsmokers on any of the 3 measures of academic performance.

Homeless individuals are some of the most marginalized Canadians and most likely to use tobacco daily. The transient nature of homeless smokers contributes to marginalization within health care as well as tobacco control strategies. The purpose of this study was to describe acquisition and smoking behaviors of homeless individuals as a first step in developing essential research evidence to inform tobacco control strategies relevant to this vulnerable population. This ethnographic study investigated the everyday reality of 15 male homeless individuals living in the Salvation Army Shelter in Winnipeg. Tobacco use was explored against their environmental and social contexts, homeless smokers used an informal street-based economy for acquisition, and smoking behaviors were high risk for infectious diseases with sharing and smoking discarded cigarettes. Tobacco control strategies that consider homeless individuals have the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality along with diminishing inequitable health burdens with this population.

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