HPRHealth Psychology ResearchTBA2420-8124Health Psychology Research10.4081/hpr.2014.1195General The role of psychosocial  and belief factors in  self-reported cigarette smoking  among university students  in Malaysiahttps://healthpr.org/journal/HPR/2/1/10.4081/hpr.2014.1195Al-DubaiSami,GanasegeranKurubaran,AlshaggaMustafa,HawashAamenah,WajihWahid,KassimSaba2014212014-01-13This study aimed to explore factors associ ated, specifically belief factors, with self reported tobacco smoking status. A sample of 300 students was recruited from a private uni versity in Malaysia. Data was collected using a pre-tested self-administrated questionnaire that investigated various factors including socio-demographics, socio-economic status, smoking behavior and beliefs on tobacco smoking. The main tobacco use in this study sample was cigarettes and the estimated prevalence of self-reported cigarette smoking was 10.3%. In bivariate analysis, self-reported cigarette smoking was significantly associat ed with socio-demographic, behavioral factors and faculty of study (P<0.05). In multivariate modeling, being male and a non-medical stu dent, did not exercise, having a smoker father and brother or sister, suffering from financial difficulties and having the belief that smokers had more friends, all had statistically signifi cant associations (P<0.05) with self-reported cigarette smoking. Social and interpersonal factors were associated with self-reported cig arette smoking status. A comprehensive health model focusing on changing the social norms of parent and sibling tobacco smoking and students’ beliefs, alongside nurturing skills of dealing with stressful situations, war rant implementation.financial difficulties, friendship, phys ically inactive, social modeling, tobacco

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