Harvard researchers have found that students who live with smokers are 40 percent more likely to smoke than those who live in smoke-free residences. The new study reveals that environment affects whether students will smoke in college. In fact, students living with smokers often start to view smoking as common and acceptable, according to Henry Wechsler, the study’s primary researcher.
The researchers also found that while 29 percent of the study’s student respondents would prefer to live in smoke-free housing, only 27 percent of colleges prohibit smoking in dorms. The study’s findings indicate that these smoke-free dorms can deter incoming non-smoking students from developing a tobacco addiction.
Boston University has created a housing policy that effectively accommodates non-smokers. In campus residences, all roommates and neighbors must agree to allow a room to be designated as a smoking room. Smoking is prohibited in all public areas within residence halls and is limited to a only few places on campus. This policy allows non-smokers to breathe a little easier knowing that their living space will not be disturbed.
Smoke-free housing can also help smokers to quit their tobacco habit because those students would experience less temptation in these dorms. Nearly half of the smokers surveyed tried and failed to quit smoking during the previous year. Those students may have had better luck if they lived in residences where smoking was prohibited.
More schools should provide these students with the option of living in a smoke-free environment. Residences can offer smoke-free floors so as not to deliberately isolate students who smoke to specific dorms. Just as restaurants comply with the request of patrons who want seating in a nonsmoking section, schools should guarantee smoke-free dorms to students who want it.
Changing their housing policies to reflect the wishes of nearly one-third of their student populations would be a simple way for colleges and universities to show their commitment to students and to make a statement about smoking.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
