PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the levels of stress, self-efficacy for smoking cessation, smoking temptation, and nicotine dependency, and to identify factors influencing nicotine dependency among male college students who smoke. METHODS: In this study, a cross-sectional survey design was adopted for 283 male college students who smoke in D city, Korea. Data was analyzed for descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression using the SPSS 20.0 program. RESULTS: The mean score of stress was 27.00+/-6.28, self-efficacy for smoking cessation was 25.61+/-6.71, smoking temptation was 53.87+/-11.02, and nicotine dependency was 3.63+/-1.96. There was a significant positive correlation between stress and nicotine dependency (r=.58, p<.001) and between smoking temptation and nicotine dependency (r=.59, p<.001). There was a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy for smoking cessation and nicotine dependency (r=-.59, p<.001). The significant factors influencing nicotine dependency were stress (beta=.357, p<.001), self-efficacy for smoking cessation (beta=.359, p<.001), and smoking temptation (beta=.297, p<.001). This model explained 60.3% of variance in nicotine dependency (F=105.59, p<.001). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that an intervention program is needed to reduce the perception of stress and smoking temptation, and to increase the ability of self-efficacy for smoking cessation among male college students who smoke with the intention to quit smoking.