Association of Stress, Anxiety and Depression with Initiation of Tobacco Use among Dental Students of Moradabad, India

Abstract

Introduction: Transition of the students from high school to a professional institute is a big change in their life. Different environment, diverse teaching and learning strategies, increase academic demand and fear of failure leads to stress, anxiety and depression among dental students. Many studies have found that stress and anxiety are the risk factors for the initiation of tobacco. Multiple factors have been proposed to explain this, including use of cigarettes to reduce anxiety (i.e., self-treatment) and an increased susceptibility of those with anxiety in initiating smoking in response to peer pressure. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and association of stress, anxiety and depression with initiation of tobacco use among dental students of Moradabad Methodology: A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was done using DASS-21 Scale to assess stress, anxiety and depression along with questionnaire related to tobacco use among 243 dental students. Results: The study shows the prevalence of moderate to severe depression, anxiety and stress is 14.4%, 33.70% and 16.04%. It also shows significant association of tobacco use with initiation of tobacco use among dental students. Conclusion: Study suggests stress, anxiety and depression might act as a trigger factors for initiation of tobacco use among dental students.