Running head: DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

The Effect of Daily Hassles and Smoking on Drinking Habits

Carine Verlin
Wright State University

Running head: DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

Abstract
The proposed study examined the effect of Life hassles and smoking habits on drinking
consumption among undergraduate college students. Participants were given an online selfreport survey to measure the three variables. We used a multiple regression approach to calculate
them. The results of the study showed that life hassles was not significantly affected by neither
smoking nor drinking (r = .06, t (84) = -0.53, p < .05). However, smoking cigarettes had a
significantly effect on alcohol consumption (r = .40, t (84) = 3.90, p < .05). Furthermore, the
data did not find that life hassles was positively correlated with drinking habits while controlling
for the effects of smoking habits ( = -.05, t (85) = -0.54, p > .05). However, smoking habits was
positively correlated with drinking habits while controlling for the effects of life hassles ( = .40,
t (85) = 4.02, p < .05). Therefore, education and intervention regarding the effect of smoking
among young adults should be introduced to prevent and control alcohol use.

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

The Effect of Daily Hassles and Smoking on Drinking Habits

In our society, alcohol consummation is part of our everyday life. Even if alcohol is a
drug, it is not only an acceptable drug but in our culture, it is a promoted substance. This
attraction is perceived at a young age and is greatly influenced by media. In adolescence,
alcohol consumption can be the result of looking for identification or independence but it can
also be the consequence of stress, life hassles, and mental health problem. Since the effect of
drinking habits can have a serious impact on the well-being of our society, it largely became a
national health issue that needed to be addressed. In this research, we will particularly be
interested on the effect of daily hassles and smoking on drinking habits. Are daily stress and
smoking habits predictors for alcohol consumption principally among young adults?
Drinking habits
Drinking habits have changed. Young adult, especially college students, drink more and
more and start to drink at a younger age. Plus, college student drink much stronger alcohols in a
shorter period of time. This new practice created more serious short and long term health
consequences. As short term consequences, people can go into coma, have car accidents or
display aggressive behavior. On the long term, the risk of addiction, lung disease, hypertension,
hepatic, and cardiovascular illness is increased considerably (Timon et al., 2012). To be able to
change this outcome, we first need to examine the reasons why college students are so attracted
by the consumption of alcohol.
Daily hassles

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

The relationship between daily hassles, and drinking habits can be strong and tight. The
more stress people experiment in their daily life, the more likely they will consume alcohol. And
college students are not spared. In a research done by the University of Francois-Rabelais,
Courtois and colleagues (2007) found that the degree of daily hassles had a negative impact on
mental health which caused people to drink more alcohol in order to decrease the stress
encountered in daily life.
Hypothesis 1: Life hassles will be positively correlated with drinking habits.
Smoking habits
Furthermore, smoking cigarettes among college students have been on the rise as well.
Like alcohol use, on the long term, nicotine consumption can become a very dangerous
substance for physical health. Besides, when the use of tobacco is combined with the use of
alcohol the risks are even higher. A study conducted by Pelucchi and colleagues (2006)
confirmed that the threat of cancer and neurocognitive deficit was linked to concurrent smoking
and drinking. Moreover, many previous studies showed that among college students, drinking
and smoking happen usually together and that smoking encourages the amount of drinking and
vice-versa (Jackson et al., 2010).
Hypothesis 2: Smoking habits will be positively correlated with drinking habits.
Daily hassles and smoking habits
In addition, daily hassles might influence smoking habits. Between the hours spend in
classroom, the homework, the jobs, and activities, young people have to face many tasks and
responsibilities that can lead them to feel overwhelmed and stressed. To overcome this constant

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

pressure, students can find relief in smoking. And since nicotine is a substance that increases
dopamine, the neurotransmitter that causes feelings of pleasure, they can find a solution for their
daily hassles as quickly as the cigarette is smoked. A recent study done by Witkiewitz et al
confirmed that increased stress enhances smoking (2011).
Hypothesis 3: Life hassles will be positively correlated with drinking habits while
controlling for the effects of smoking habits.
Hypothesis 4: Smoking habits will be positively correlated with drinking habits while
controlling for the effects of life hassles.
Method
Sample
The participants consisted of 86 undergraduate students between the age of 19 and
51 years with a mean age of 24 years old and a standard deviation of 6.9. The average
participants age was 24. 29.1% were male participants, 68.67% were female and, 2.3%
didnt respond. Volunteers were recruited from a medium sized Mid-western University.
Measures
Daily hassles.
Fifteen questions were used to measure this variable. Participants had to respond on a
closed ended 7-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Kohn, et al.,
1990). One example of questions participants had to answer was I feel emotionally drained by
my studies.

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

Smoking habits.
One question was used to measure this variable. Participants had to respond on a closed
ended 7-point scale ranging from never to I smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day (Ebeling et
al., 1999). The question was Do you smoke cigarettes?
Drinking habits.
One question was used to measure this variable. Participants had to respond on a closed
ended 7-point scale ranging from I do not drink alcohol to daily (Ebeling et al., 1999). The
item was How often do you drink alcohol? Try to include all times you consumed only small
amounts of alcohol.
Procedure
Students had to respond to an online questionnaire that last about 45 minutes. They had
about one week to complete it. This survey was confidential and was not paid but students were
able to receive 10 extra points added to their grade.
Results
We used a multiple regression approach to estimate how smoking habits and daily hassles
predicted alcohol consumption. The predictor variables were smoking habits (M = 2.40, SD =
1.90) and daily hassles (M = 3.80, SD = 1.30), while the criterion variable was alcohol usage (M
= 5.00, SD = 2.50). As shown in Table 1, we found support for Hypothesis 1.
Smoking habits had a significant, positive relationship with alcohol use (r = .40, t (84) =
3.90, p <.05). However, hypothesis 2 did not find a significant positive relationship between life

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

hassles and alcohol consumption (r = .06, t (84) = -0.53, p < .05). The same with daily hassles
and smoking habits, there is almost no positive correlation among the two variables (r = .02, t
(84) = -.14, p < .05).
In regards to the regression analyses (Table 2), Hypothesis 3 and hypothesis 4 were
supported. Smoking habits predicted drinking consumption while controlling for the effects of
life hassles ( = .40, t (85) = 4.02, p <.05). And life hassles predicted drinking habits while
controlling for the effects of smoking habits ( = -.05, t (85) = -0.54, p > .05). Smoking habits
and daily hassles explained a significant proportion of variance in alcohol usage scores (R2 = .15,
F (1, 85) = 12.27, p < .05). Thus, about 15% of the variance of alcohol usage scores in the
sample can be accounted for by smoking and daily hassles.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine if smoking habits and life hassles had an effect
on drinking consumption. Its data supported hypothesis 1 but not hypothesis 2. Furthermore, the
regression analyses showed that hypothesis 4 was a predictor of drinking habits but not
hypothesis 3.
Implications
It was surprising to discover that life hassles have no effect on drinking and smoking
habits. Indeed, another study conducted by the University of Francois-Rabelais, Courtois and
colleagues (2007) found that the amount of daily hassles had a negative impact on emotional
health which initiated people to drink alcohol. By contrast, this new study confirmed many
previous studies that indicated a strong correlation between drinking and smoking habits
(Jackson et al., 2010). Since the data corroborate a relationship between smoking and alcohol

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

usage, high school students and college students should be able to receive free education and
prevention to inform them of the risks of such behaviors. Furthermore, college campus, bars,
night clubs should be smoke free environment for decreasing the likelihood of smoking.
Moreover, free health care involving clinical interventions combined with nicotine replacement
therapy should be available as well for young people who are already smokers.
Limitations
This study has some limitations. The sample size is relatively small (86 participants)
which affects the power of the data. When a study has few participants, the chance of having
error in the results is more probable. Also, because the questionnaire was given only to
undergraduate students from the same University, the external validity is reduced. We cannot
generalize those finding to other groups of population. And finally, since the survey was given
through an online self-report questionnaire, we are relying on the individuals truthfulness. We
have to consider that there are maybe some participants who will not tell the truth.
Future Research
To be able to confirm this data, future research should be conducted that would include
other groups of people. It should also include other universities from different areas. It would
also be interested to compare groups from other countries to see if cultural difference could be
another variable that might be related to drinking habits. In the United States, while alcohol
consumption is not allowed before 21 years, it could also be a reason why it attracts more the
young population compares to other countries where alcohol is legal at 18 years old.

DAILY HASSLES AND SMOKING ON DRINKING HABITS

Conclusion
While his study cant be generalize to other population groups, this data can still leads us to take
some practical actions in order to improve the quality of life of young adults. Intervention
program and policy action regarding the prevention and control of alcohol use should be
increased, both on and off campus.

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References
Courtois, R. R., Rveillre, C. C., Pas, A. A., Berton, L. L., & Jouint, C. C. (2007). Liens entre
stresseurs, sant psychique et premires consommations de tabac et d'alcool la
pradolescence. L'encphale: Revue De Psychiatrie Clinique Biologique Et
Thrapeutique, 33(3), 300-309.
Ebeling, H., Ebeling, T., Piha, J., Kumpulainen, K., Tamminen, T., & Almqvist, F. (1999).
Smoking and drinking habits in adolescence links with psychiatric disturbance at the
age of 8 years. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 8, 68-76.
Kohn, P. M., Lafreniere, K., & Gurevich, M. (1990). The Inventory of College Students Recent
Life Experiences: A decontaminated hassles scale for a special population. Journal of
Behavioral Medicine, 13, 619-629.
Maskos, U., Molles, B.., Pons, S., Besson, M., Guiard, B Guillard, B., Guilloux, J.-P., et al.
(2005)Nicotine reinforcement and cognition restored by targeted expression of nicotinic
receptor. Nature, 436(7). 103-107.
Pelucchi, C., Gallus, S., Garavello, W., Bosetti, C., & La Vecchia, C.(2006). Cancer risk
associated with alcohol and tobacco use: Focus on upper aero-digestive tract and liver.
Alcohol Research & Health, 29,193198.
Timon, R. R., Olcina, G. G., Maynar, J. I., & Maynar, M. M. (2012). Effects of regular and
abusive intake of alcohol at weekends on physiological parameters in Spanish
young. Public Health, 126(10), 873-880.

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Witkiewitz, K., Desai, S. A., Steckler, G., Jackson, K. M., Bowen, S., Leigh, B. C., & Larimer,
M. E. (2012). Concurrent drinking and smoking among college students: An event-level
analysis. Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors, 26(3), 649-654.

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Table 1
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for all Study Variables
Variable

SD

1. Smoking Habits

2.40

1.90

2. Daily hassles

3.80

1.30

.02

3. Alcohol Usage

5.00

2.50

.40*

.06

Note: N = 86. *p < .05.

Table 2
Regression Analyses for Smoking Habits, Daily hassles, and Alcohol Usage
Predictors

Step 1

.15*

Smoking habits

.40*

Life hassles

-.05

Note: N = 86. *p < .05.

R2