Smoking at Princeton

This is not a particularly unusual case: Arriving at college can often transform students' attitudes toward tobacco. Many freshmen are away from their parents for the first time and are meeting new types of people. College also gives students large blocks of unplanned time on a daily basis and a stressful workload, both of which can lead to smoking.

According to a 2007 study, roughly 30 percent of U.S. college students smoke. At Princeton, however, smokers and non-smokers interviewed for this article estimated that only about 5-10 percent of Princeton students are habitual smokers.

Eric '12 said he smoked occasionally in high school and only started smoking regularly during his freshman year at Princeton.

"In college, there started to be more free time, more hanging out outside, and more of my friends smoked. My neighbor smoked much more than I did at first, and I think we built off each other," he said.

Now he smokes about four to six cigarettes on a normal day, and about eight cigarettes during a typical night out at the Street. When he goes home, however, he does not smoke, and his parents do not know about his habit.

"I don't want them to find out because I know they'd be disappointed and worry about me, and I don't want them to go through that," he said.

The names of Eric and some other students interviewed have been changed to protect their privacy.

But not all students necessarily start smoking because of their new friends; some pick it up on their own through other outlets. Sally '11 had her first cigarette during a year she spent abroad working on a farm.

"I got bored and decided to try one. I got a buzz, I liked it, and so I kept going," she said.

John '13 grew up in a small rural town where smoking was the norm. "Just about everyone smoked: my brother, my parents, my friends," he said. "During breaks at high school, you'd see teachers outside smoking right next to the students." His habit of smoking about five cigarettes a day did not change once he got to Princeton, where he was surprised by the scarcity of smokers on campus.

Still, no matter how these students started smoking, there is a variety of reasons why they continue to do it. For some, it is a way to cope with stress.

"Princeton is so stressful. Different people have different releases, and cigarettes are a good release in the short term," Sarah '10 said.

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Others use smoking as a study break — a smoker or two can often be found outside Firestone Library during peak work hours. But some Princeton smokers said that they actually smoke more frequently when they are content and relaxed.

There is also a social aspect to smoking. Eric, for example, said he feels a connection to other smokers since there are relatively few of them at Princeton. "Often you're thrown together with somebody you don't know when you're both smoking outside, and you talk," he said. "It's a neat way to meet people and vary your experience on the Street."

Scarpetta said she has met a lot of people by bumming a cigarette off them, asking for a light or talking about their brand. Within an eating club or social bubble, smokers often get to know each other's preferred brand of cigarettes.

"I've met a lot more people smoking than drinking," Scarpetta said. "It's like our own little club."

Indeed, some smokers said that they smoke much more when they are with other smokers. "When I'm not around people who are smoking, I don't really think about it," Emma '11 said. "I'll go through three a day if I'm alone but almost a pack a day if I'm surrounded by my smoker friends."

Being in a relationship can especially affect smoking habits. "When I have a boyfriend, I smoke more, because I date smokers usually and so we'll end up smoking together," Jamie '11 said.

Smokers at Princeton also cite cigarette use as just simply something to do. "We'll spend a lot of time sitting around here talking about stuff while smoking," Sally said. "It's like those 19th century philosophers who sat around talking, drinking coffee and smoking for hours and hours."

This exotic, foreign aspect of smoking is certainly a factor, and several students noted that they believe there are more international smokers at Princeton than American ones.

Michelle '11, who is studying abroad in Europe this semester, said this is most likely spurred by cultural differences between the students' home environments and the environment on campus.

"Smoking [in Europe] is pretty much ubiquitous and, unlike in Princeton, isn't attached to certain groups of people — i.e., the Terrace or Ivy crowd or ‘alternative people,' " she said in an e-mail. "It's, oddly enough, a sort of universal and equalizing habit."

Liz Kohansedgh '10, a psychology major who performed research on smokers for her senior thesis, also noticed the relatively large number of smokers at Princeton who are international students.

"In the U.S., there's definitely a widespread and socially recognized stigma against cigarette use, but it's not necessarily the same abroad," she said. "When international students come here, they might still abide by behavioral standards they established back home. They continue using cigarettes because they retain these different ideas about social norms regarding smoking.."

For Chelsea '11, who is an international student from London, this is certainly true. "When I first came to Princeton, I kind of felt like a villain because people would look at me funny when I was smoking," she said. "There's definitely an anti-smoker feel in Princeton."

Michelle agreed, and added that the reason smoking is so acceptable abroad is that everyone does it, including parents and professors. But the opposite is true in the United States, and particularly at Princeton, where, "smoking is a countercultural thing," she said.

Kohansedgh kept this trend in mind when performing research for her thesis. She surveyed about 300 smokers and non-smokers at Princeton, asking how often the students smoked and whether they considered themselves smokers.

Many of the students she surveyed fell into the "social smoker" category: people who don't identify themselves as smokers but still use cigarettes often on a weekly basis when they go out and consume alcohol.

"Smokers smoke more when they drink, and people who wouldn't consider themselves smokers also do. Their inhibitions are lowered," Eric said.

A nationwide study that sampled college students across the country about their smoking habits found some interesting numbers, Kohansedgh said.

"A social-smoking statistic from the study found that of all the students who reported using cigarettes at all, 50 percent of them would not admit that they are smokers," she explained.

Edward '12 said that he and many of his friends will bum cigarettes off people when they're out drinking, even though they wouldn't touch a cigarette sober.

When asked whether they will smoke after college, most social smokers interviewed said they were planning to quit. In her research, however, Kohansedgh found that the health effects of occasional social smoking could be just as detrimental as habitual smoking.

"Because people are smoking socially, they don't see it as a problem, so they don't take active measures to quit. A lot of them just view it as part of their college experience while they're students but don't actually end up quitting after they leave college," she said.

Many of the frequent smokers interviewed expressed a desire to quit smoking at some point, whether for medical, financial or social reasons.

"I would never encourage anyone to start smoking," Sally said. "I really don't want to, but I still do it. Quitting really is as hard as they say if you're addicted."

Smoking can be an expensive habit, with normal packs costing about $7 or $8 and fancier packs costing around $12.

"It's such a waste of money," Sally said. "I used to spend $40 a week on cigarettes. My money from working went down the drain."

Other smokers considering quitting were more concerned with how outsiders might perceive them because of their habit.

"I would never want certain people to see me smoking — my parents, my professors, my little sister, definitely not my grandma," Alex '11 said. Most smokers said they try to avoid smoking around children, whether that means moving their cigarette to the other hand as they walk by or just not smoking in more public places like Nassau Street.

"Not many people do it, so it's easy to avoid. It doesn't bother me at all," Natalie '12 said.

Sam '12 agreed. "I don't get why they do it because it's kind of gross, makes my stomach feel weird and is clearly unhealthy," he said. "But I guess as long as they're respectful and don't smoke around me, it's their own choice."

Some non-smokers take a more active opposition to smoking, however.

"I hate it when I'm walking behind someone or a group of people smoking. Sometimes I do that obnoxiously loud cough thing to try to tell them that their smoking is annoying and disgusting to me," Ashley '12 said.

But smokers on campus do not seem to feel stigmatized by their habit.

"I don't get dirty looks. And if I did, I wouldn't really be offended," Scarpetta said.

Eric noted that he thinks smokers don't feel judged by other people, but instead feel like they're doing something that is a taboo.

"I mean, let's be honest — it's gross. And the kids at Princeton know that more than anybody because so few people smoke here," he said. "You smell bad after you smoke, and it's gross to kiss. Going here has made me more aware of the grosser aspects of it."