PERSONALITY, DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND SMOKING STATUS AMONG TURKISH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The association between the sociotropic/autonomic personality characteristics, depressive symptoms and cigarette-smoking status of 385 male and 241 female university students was examined. Depressive symptoms and sociotropic/autonomic personality were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (adapted for use in Turkey by Hisli [1998]) and the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (adapted for use in Turkey by Şahin, Ulusoy, & Şahin [1993]); smoking behaviors were also assessed. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between sociotropic/autonomic personality characteristics, depressive symptoms and cigarette-smoking status. Current smokers showed a trend, scoring higher than nonsmokers on depressive symptoms, and they also scored significantly higher than nonsmokers on autonomy. Results also show that depressive symptoms (OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.05–1.10), and autonomy (OR = 1.02, 95% CI = 1.01–1.03) were predictive variables of current smoking status.