Gender Experience of Smoking among Students of Kharazmi University

Given the differences in understanding, contexts and motivations for smoking among male and female students, the present study compares the experience of smoking among male and female students at Kharazmi University. The approach of this research was qualitative and its method was phenomenology which was purposeful sampling with snowball strategy. The subjects included two groups of male and female undergraduate and graduate students at Kharazmi University (15 girls and 15 boys) who were interviewed in semi-structured and in-depth with theoretical saturation criteria. Thematic (thematic) analysis technique was used to analyze the data. According to the findings, male and female students had different understandings of smoking and were encouraged to smoke for different reasons. Male students are encouraged to smoke to escape intellectual conflicts, and female students try to regain their female identities by smoking. The dormitory and the university played a role in increasing smoking among male students and in building and initiating smoking among female students. Existence of smoking friends and gaining experience, although it played a role in smoking by both sexes, but its role was more prominent among male students. Family background and smoker acquaintances played a role in encouraging both sexes to smoke. The difference between the lived experience of smoking between male and female students indicates that there is a different pattern on their smoking, especially in terms of motivation, and the conditions that create and facilitate it. Meanwhile, the dormitory space with the same function has been to some extent a ground for girls to start smoking and its intensification among boys.