Status of cigarettes smoking and alcoholconsumption among foreign students,studying in firat university

Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are the most common serious social practices which have profound health effect. This research was aimed to determine the status of cigarettes smoking, alcohol consumption and related factors among foreign student study at Firat University. The universe of this cross-sectional study was composed of all foreign students studying at Fırat University, and 337 students selected from this universe. The data of the research; A questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, questions about smoking and alcohol use and Fagerström nicotine addiction test was used. The data obtained were recorded in the SPSS package program and percent, average, Chi-square and Fisher's Exact Test were used for statistical analysis. 82.8% of the students included in the study are male and their average age is 23.61 ± 4.68 years. 36.5% of students have tried smoking at least once, while 31.8% still smoke. 13.4% of the students participating in the research use alcohol. As the educational status of students increases, smoking rate decreases (p <0.05). While the rate of smoking increased significantly in alcohol users and hookah smokers (p <0.05), there was no significant relationship between age, gender, department and smoking (p> 0.05). As the age progresses and the level of education increases, the alcohol drinking rate decreases (p <0.05). No significant relationship was found between students and their alcohol use status by gender and country (p> 0.05). Alcohol drinking rate is low in Muslim students (p <0.05), from this result, the rate of smoking and alcohol use is high among foreign students at Firat University. It may be suggested; to conduct trainings on this subject, the cost-effective reducing rate involve the participation of families, teachers and other stakeholders to deliver health education about the health risks associated with smoking and alcohol consumption, restrict the accessibility and advertising. Potential interventions could include campus-wide smoking and drinking bans, increased social/sports entertainment, are highly recommended.