Cigarette smoking among adolescents: Psychological correlates

Nalini Malhotra** & Amandeep Kaur*

Abstract
Cigarette smoking has long been recognized as a major public health problem. Smoking causes
a wide range of diseases including many types of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and peptic ulcer disease. According to
WHO, 6 million people have died due to cigarette smoking annually and one million secondhand
smokers have died due to smoke inhalation. It is very important to focus on various correlates
which are responsible for cigarette smoking especially the psychological ones.The present
research was conducted to examine the role of Hardiness and Self esteem in predicting cigarette
smoking among adolescents.The sample comprised 100 male cigarette smokers with in the age
range of 13-18 years. Fagerstrom test for Nicotine Dependence, Hardiness scale by Kobasa, Self
Esteem scale by Sorenson etal. were administered to the participants. Correlational analysis was
conducted and it revealed that Hardiness and fairly good self esteem was negatively associated
with Nicotine Dependence. The implications for future research were discussed.

Dr Nalini Malhotra**

Associate Professor

Department of Psychology

PUNJABI UNIVERSITY, PATIALA

Amandeep Kaur *

Research Scholar

PUNJABI UNIVERSITY

PATIALA

Keywords: Cigarette Smoking, Hardiness, Self Esteem.