Abstract
Most adult cigarette smokers start smoking during adolescence. Few studies, however, have focused on adolescents that are heavy smokers. The present study examined how several risk and protective factors measured during early adolescence were associated with heavy smoking in a sample of high-school seniors. As part of a school-based survey, seventh-grade students (N=743) reported degrees of experimentation with psychoactive substances and several psychosocial factors deemed to be important in the etiology of smoking. Students were followed-up in the twelfth grade, when 12% (n=88) smoked a pack of cigarettes or more each day. Logistic regression analyses revealed that heavy smoking was predicted by several earlier variables: poor grades, experimentation with cigarettes or alcohol, a mother or many friends that smoked, and high risk-taking in the seventh grade. Antismoking attitudes and those of one's parents and friends predicted less later heavy smoking in girls only. Implications for smoking prevention are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Ary, D. V., and Biglan, A. (1988). Longitudinal changes is adolescent cigarette smoking behavior: Onset and cessation. J. Behav. Med. 11: 361-382.
Biglan, A., and Lichtenstein, E. (1984). A behavior-analytic approach to smoking acquisition: Some recent findings. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 14: 207-223.
Bloom, M. D., and Greenwald, M. A. (1984). Alcohol and cigarette use among early adolescents. J. Drug Educ. 14: 195-205.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Botvin, E. M., Dusenbury, L., Cardwell, J., and Diaz, T. (1993). Factors promoting cigarette smoking among black youth: A causal modeling approach. Addict. Behav. 18: 397-405.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Dusenbury, L. D., Botvin, E. M., and Diaz, T. (1995). Long-term follow-up results of a randomized drug abuse prevention trial in a White middle-class population. JAMA 273: 1106-1112.
Breslau, N., and Peterson, E. L. (1996). Smoking cessation in young adults: Age at initiation of cigarette smoking and other suspected influences. Am. Public Health 86: 214-220.
Byrne, D. G., Byrne, A. E., and Reinhart, M. I. (1995). Personality, stress and the decision to commence cigarette smoking in adolescence. J. Psychosom. Res. 39: 53-62.
Centers for Disease Control (1974). Teenager's Self-Test: Cigarette Smoking, DHEW Publication No. CDC 74-8723, U.S. Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, Washington, DC.
Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Sherman, S. J., Montello, D., and McGrew, J. (1986). Changes in peer and parent influence during adolescence: Longitudinal versus cross-sectional perspectives on smoking initiation. Dev. Psychol. 22: 327-334.
Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Rose, J. S., and Sherman, S. J. (1996). The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood: Demographic predictors of continuity and change. Health Psychol. 15: 478-484.
Choi, W. S., Pierce, J. P., Gilpin, E. A., Farkas, A. J., and Berry, C. C. (1997). Which adolescent experimenters progress to established smoking in the United States. Am. J. Prev. Med. 13: 385-391.
Clayton, S. (1991). Gender differences in psychosocial determinants of adolescent smoking. J. School Health 61: 115-120.
Collins, L. M., Sussman, S., Rauch, J. M., Dent, C. W., Johnson, C. A., Hansen, W. B., and Flay, B. R. (1987). Psychosocial predictors of young adolescent cigarette smoking: A sixteen-month, three-wave longitudinal study. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 17: 554-573.
Conrad, K. M., Flay, B. R., and Hill, D. (1992). Why children start smoking cigarettes: Predictors of onset. Br. J. Addict. 87: 1711-1724.
Eysenck, H. J., and Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Feingold, A. (1994). Gender differences in personality: A meta-analysis. Psycol. Bull. 116: 429-456.
Flay, B. R., Hu, F. B., Siddiqui, O., Day, L. E., et al. (1994). Differential influence of parental smoking and friends' smoking on adolescent initiation and escalation of smoking. J. Health Soc. Behav. 35: 248-265.
Foshee, V., and Bauman, K. E. (1994). Parental attachment and adolescent cigarette smoking initiation. J. Adolesc. Res. 9: 88-104.
French, S. A., and Perry, C. L. (1996). Smoking among adolescent girls: Prevalence and etiology. J. Am. Med. Womens Assoc. 51: 25-28.
Fried, J. L. (1994). Women and young girls: High-risk populations for tobacco use. Health Values 18: 33-40.
Friedman, L. S., Lichtenstein, E., and Biglan, A. (1985). Smoking onset among teens: An empirical analysis of initial situations. Addict. Behav. 10: 1-13.
Heiby, E. M. (1983). Assessment of frequency of self-reinforcement. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 44: 1304-1307.
Hops, H., Duncan, T. E., Duncan, S. C., and Stoolmiller, M. (1996). Parent substance use as a predictor of adolescent use: A six-year laggered analysis. Ann. Behav. Med. 18: 157-164.
Johnson, R. A., and Gerstein, D. R. (1998). Initiation of use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other substances in US birth cohorts since 1919. Am. J. Public Health 88: 27-33.
Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., and Bachman, J. G. (1997). National Press Release on the Continuing Rise in Cigarette Smoking Among American Teenagers in 1995, University of Michigan News and Information Services, Ann Arbor.
Kandel, D. K., and Wu, P. (1995). The contributions of mothers and fathers to the intergenerational transmission of cigarette smoking in adolescence. J. Res. Adolesc. 5: 225-252.
Killen, J. D., Robinson, T. N., Haydel, K. F., Hayward, C., Wilson, D. M., Hammer, L. D., Litt, I. F., and Taylor, C. B. (1997). Prospective study of risk factors for the initiation of cigarette smoking. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 65: 1011-1016.
Lipkus, I. M., Barefoot, J. C., Williams, R. B., and Siegler, I. C. (1994). Personality measures as predictors of smoking initiation and cessation in the UNC Alumni Heart Study. Health Psychol. 13: 149-155.
McNeill, A. D., West, R. J., Jarvis, M., Jackson, P., et al. (1986). Cigarette withdrawal symptoms in adolescent smokers. Psychopharmacology 90: 533-536.
McNeill, A. D., Jarvis, M. J., Stapleton, J. A., Russell, M. A., et al. (1989). Prospective study of factors preceding uptake of smoking in adolescents. J. Epidemiol. Commun. Health 43: 72-78.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (1994). Reasons for tobacco use and symptoms of nicotine withdrawal among adolescent and young adult tobacco users—United States, 1993. MMWR 43(41): 745-750.
Oygard, L., Klepp, K., Tell, G. S., and Vellar, O. D. (1995). Parental and peer influences on smoking among young adults: Ten-year follow-up of the Oslo youth study participants. Addiction 90: 561-569.
Pederson, L. L., and Lefcoe, N. M. (1985). Cross-sectional analysis of variables related to cigarette smoking in late adolescence. J. Drug Educ. 15: 225-240.
Penny, G. N., and Robinson, J. O. (1986). Psychological resoures and cigarette smoking in adolescents. Br. J. Psychol. 77: 351-357.
Pierce, J. P., and Gilpin, E. (1996). How long will today's new adolescent smoker be addicted to cigarettes? Am. J. Public Health 86: 253-256.
Prokhorov, A. V., Pallonen, U. E., Gava, J. L., Ding, L., et al. (1996). Measuring nicotine dependence among high-risk adolescent smokers. Addict. Behav. 21: 117-127.
Robinson, L. A., and Klesges, R. C. (1997). Ethnic and gender differences in risk factors for smoking onset. Healthy Psychol. 16: 499-505.
Robinson, L. A., Klesges, R. C., Zbikoski, S. M., and Glaser, R. (1997). Predictors of risk for different stages of adolescent smoking in a biracial sample. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 65: 653-662.
Stanton, W. R., and Silva, P. A. (1992). A longitudinal study of the influence of parents and friends on children's initiation of smoking. J. Appl. Dev. Psychol. 13: 423-434.
Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. B., and Bentler, P. M. (1996). Initiation and maintenance of tobacco smoking: Changing personality correlates in adolescence and young adulthood. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 26: 160-187.
Sussman, S., Brannon, B. R., Dent, C. W., Hansen, W. B., et al. (1993). Relations of coping effort, coping strategies, perceived stress, and cigarette smoking among adolescents. Int. J. Addict. 28: 599-612.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1994). Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, CDC, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, Atlanta.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1998). Tobacco Use Among US Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups: A Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, CDC, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, Atlanta.
Wang, M. Q., et al. (1995). Developmental influences of attitudes and beliefs on adolescents' smoking. Psychol. Rep. 76: 399-402.
Wang, M. Q., et al. (1996). Attitudes and beliefs of adolescent experimental smokers: A smoking prevention perspective. J. Alcohol Drug Educ. 41: 1-12.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Griffin, K.W., Botvin, G.J., Doyle, M.M. et al. A Six-Year Follow-Up Study of Determinants of Heavy Cigarette Smoking Among High-School Seniors. J Behav Med 22, 271–284 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018772524258
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018772524258