Validation of self-report on smoking among university students in Korea

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To validate the self-reported smoking status of Korean university students.

METHODS: Subjects included 322 Korean university in Korea, who participated in an annual health screening. Data on smoking were collected through a self-reported questionnaire and urine test. The data were analyzed by the McNemar test.

RESULTS: In the consistency test for males, the results from the questionnaire and the urine test were in agreement, but for females, there was a significant difference between the results reported by the 2 tests (P=.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed that Korean female university students considerably underreported their smoking behavior