ABSTRACT One of the greatest known problems now that are killing people, existing everywhere is smoking. In spite of broad knowledge of the health results, it is common throughout the world. Almost all youngsters start this habit due to stress, personal issues, family problems, depression, , boredom, and out of their interest. The present study aimed at highlighting the purposes for smoking amongst the youth of age 18 to 25 years in Delhi.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 70 college students to know their points of view with respect to the reasons behind smoking habit. A questionnaire consisting demographic information, respondent smoking status, the reasons for starting and continuing smoking and awareness and opinion concerning smoking was used in the present study. Majority of the people who responded were non-smokers 41 (58.57%) and 29 (41.42%) smokers. Among the people who responded , 30(73.
17%) reported having never tried or tested smoking and 11(26.82%) respondents tried smoking once or twice. The results showed that 31.
03% smokers agreed that they started smoking out of their interest, 34.48% started because they are depressed,34.28% smoked due to peer encouragement. The reasons given for continuing smoking were an addiction, for being liked a lot or fame, social influence from the same age people, depression, and pleasure. All the people who responded respondents reported that they are aware of passive smoking and negative health effects and consequences of smoking. 78.57% people said smoking should be prohibited.
