a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSVery few students consider that their involvement in gambling constitutes a problemfor them. Fourteen students, however, feel that their gambling is a problem ‘to aconsiderable degree or a good part of the time’ or ‘very much or most of the time’.Of these 14 students, 12 acknowledge a strong increase in gambling since coming toAustralia.Three questionnaire items were designed to obtain information about students’smoking behaviour. One question taps into the extent to which students smoke.Another focuses on change in smoking behaviour after arrival in Australia and a thirdon the extent to which smoking is viewed as a problem for the individual.Table 66 presents information about the extent of smoking among students. Onceagain, the vast majority of students do not engage in smoking. Of those who dosmoke, most are in the category of least frequent smokers. At the other extreme arenine students who acknowledge smoking about a pack a day. No student smokesmore cigarettes per day than this.Table 66Average number of cigarettes smoked per dayNumber of cigarettesNone 1-5 6-15 16-25 26-35 Over 35Frequency(n=967)8904622900Percentage92.04.82.30.900Table 67 presents information concerning students’ perceptions of their smokingbehaviour. The majority of students indicate that their smoking behaviour has notincreased since they began their studies in Australia. If we focus on the 4.4 per cent(n=43) who see a marked increase, we find there is no clear pattern in the averagenumber of cigarettes smoked per day; the number varies from 1–5 up to 16–25. Inother words, the increase might be from not smoking to smoking or from smokingless heavily to smoking more heavily.Table 67Perceptions of smoking behaviourItems Mean SD 0Not at allD21. I smoke more heavily since I began myuniversity studies here. (n=977)B19. My smoking of cigarettes is a problem forme. (n=975)Percentage ratings1To somedegree2To aconsiderable degree3Verymuch0.1 0.5 91.6 4.0 3.1 1.30.1 0.5 91.9 4.3 1.7 2.1Unlike those who drink most heavily, many of those who smoke most frequently doconsider that smoking constitutes a problem for them. Six of the nine heaviestsmokers believe smoking to be a problem, while 10 of those smoking 6 – 15 cigarettesRussell, Rosenthal & Thomson, 2006 90