Assessment of Physiological and Psychological Dependence on Tobacco

INTRODUCTION: Smoking is recognized as the most important preventable public health problem in the world with known carcinogenic, mutagenic and addictive effects on many organs and systems.
METHODS: Our study was conducted with 380 first-year students of Trakya University who were tobacco users in the 2020-2021 academic year. The 62-question questionnaire included questions about socio-demographic characteristics and smoking, as well as the 6-question Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Test (FTND) and the 25-question Test to Assess the Psychological Dependence on Smoking (TAPDS).
RESULTS: Our study consisted of 185 male (48.69%) and 195 female (51.31%) students. Of the participants, 94 (24.73%) were from health-related faculties and 286 (75.27%) were from non-health-related faculties. It was observed that 364 (95.78%) of the participants smoked cigarettes and 16 (4.22%) used non-cigarette tobacco products. When the participants were classified according to their FTND scores, the most crowded category was very “slightly addicted” with 210 participants (55.27%), while the most crowded category was “moderately addicted” with 190 participants (50%) according to their TAPDS scores. It was also observed that using cigarettes as a tobacco product, having a smoker in the family and living alone at home made a statistically significant difference for both physical and psychological addiction. In our study, it was determined that there was a statistically significant, linear, same-directional and moderate relationship between physical dependence and psychological dependence.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In order to better understand the factors affecting smoking addiction and to make individualized treatment selection, it is important to differentiate between physical and psychological addiction.