Social context of smoking hookah among college students: scale development and validation

J Am Coll Health. 2013;61(4):204-11. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2013.787621.

Abstract

Objective: To develop an instrument that measures the social context of hookah use among college students.

Participants: A pool of 50 potential items, based on 44 in-depth interviews with regular college hookah smokers, was administered to a sample of 274 hookah users between October and December 2011.

Methods: Participants were approached in hookah bars and asked to complete the survey.

Results: A principle components analysis revealed 3 reliable factors: social facilitation, family/cultural influence, and alternative to smoking cigarettes and drinking. These were examined across different categories of hookah use: Weekly hookah users were more likely to smoke in a context of social facilitation than the other 2 groups. Similar effects were observed for family/cultural influence. Asians were more likely to smoke in a context of family and cultural influence than non-Asians.

Conclusions: This scale has potential for identifying situation-specific contexts of hookah use that may help in designing effective interventions for college students.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Alcohol Drinking / epidemiology
  • Alcohol Drinking / psychology
  • Culture
  • Family
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Nicotiana
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sex Factors
  • Smoking / ethnology
  • Smoking / psychology*
  • Social Environment*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Students / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*
  • Universities*
  • Young Adult