Table 15: Age at onset of smoking by gender

Age at start of smoking

Males 

Females 

Total

%

%

%

Under 14

39.9

40.8

40.5

15 16 years

32.3

36.5

34.9

17 or older

27.7

22.7

24.6

There was a significant difference across year in college for the onset of

smoking. A higher proportion of first and second year students started

smoking before they were 14 years old in comparison to third year students

(46%, 44%, 33%).  This was particularly the case for female students where

over half of first year female students had begun smoking before they were

14 years old (Figure 12).  Of particular interest is that one quarter of all

students who had smoked in the past were no longer smokers.

Figure 12: Age at onset of smoking for females across year in college

34

Under 14 yrs

45

51

38

15 16 yrs

39

31

29

17 + yrs

17

18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60 (%)

1st yr 

2nd yr 

3rd yr plus 

Three quarters of all current smokers had tried to stop smoking and nearly

all wanted to quit with more females (97%) than males (90%).  When asked

to identify what would help them quit smoking, personal, social and

environmental factors were mentioned. Having more will power was

mentioned by two thirds of students as a key to quitting smoking, where

more females than males reported it (Table 16). Other personal issues

mentioned were less stress (41%) and more self confidence (21%). Of the

environmental factors, pricing was considered the most important with 25%

of students saying an increase in the price of cigarettes would act as an aid

to stop smoking.  Support from family and friends were identified by 15% as

an aid to stop smoking and a similar number said nicotine replacement

therapy would help them.  Of less importance to students was medical

advice and stop smoking groups.

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