Early dating predicts smoking during adolescence: A prospective study

Social network determinants of alcohol and tobacco use: A qualitative study among out of school youth in South Africa

An important determinant of alcohol and tobacco use is the adolescent's social network, which has not been explored among out of school youth (OSY). OSY are adolescents not currently enrolled in school and have not completed their schooling. This study aims to qualitatively understand how OSY's social networks support or constrain alcohol and tobacco use. Respondent-driven sampling was used to select 41 OSY (aged 13-20 years) for individual in-depth interviews in a South African urban area. The data were analysed using content analysis. Smoking and drinking friends, family close in age to OSY that drank and smoked, and lack of parental support were associated with alcohol and tobacco use among OSY. Household norms, romantic partners and non-smoking or non-drinking friends were suggested to mitigate alcohol and tobacco use. Understanding how the social network of OSY plays a role in alcohol and tobacco use is useful for gaining an insight into the profile of OSY at risk for alcohol and tobacco use. Registration of OSY youth and community-based peer led programmes that include influential OSY family and friends could be beneficial.

Social Misfit or Normal Development? Students Who Do Not Date

OBJECTIVE

Prior research identified 4 distinct dating trajectories from 6th to 12th grade: Low, Increasing, High Middle School, and Frequent. The purpose of this study was to examine whether 10th graders in the Low dating group differed on emotional, interpersonal, and adaptive skills from youth in the other trajectories.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 594 10th graders. We compared the 4 dating groups using teacher ratings (social skills, leadership, depression) and student self-reports (positive relationships with friends, at home, and at school; depression, suicidal ideation). To compare scores by dating trajectory, we used chi-square test and analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Students in the Low dating group had significantly higher teacher ratings of social skills and leadership, and lower ratings of depression compared to the other groups. Self-reports of positive relationships did not differ by dating groups. Self-reported depression was significantly lower in the Low dating group, but suicidal ideations did not differ.

CONCLUSION

Adolescents who were not in a romantic relationship had good social skills and low depression, and fared better or equal to peers who dated. These results refute the notion that non-daters are maladjusted. Health promotion interventions in schools should include non-dating as one option of healthy development.

Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use: Do students with mild-intellectual disability mimic students in the general population?

Education policies encourage inclusion of students with mild-intellectual disability (mild-ID) in community/school life. However, such policies potentially increase exposure to substance use. This article examines tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use among French students enrolled in special units for students with disabilities (ULIS) at mainstream junior high schools compared to those of general population of the equivalent age; and explores factors associated with substance use among ULIS students, known to present mostly mild-ID. In 2014, a questionnaire adapted from the international HBSC/WHO study was administered to 700 ULIS students (mean-age 14.2). Comparative data were gathered from 7023 junior high-school students (mean-age 13.6) in the general population. Among students <14 years-old, tobacco and alcohol use rates were similar between ULIS and general population. For students ≥14, alcohol use remained comparable, while tobacco and cannabis use were higher in general population. Among ULIS students, low perceived health/life satisfaction, divorced/separated parents and high perceived academic demands were associated with tobacco use. Bullying, not liking school very much and attending schools outside a deprived area were associated with alcohol use. Having had sexual intercourse and not perceiving one's health as excellent were associated with cannabis use. Having dated was associated with using all three substances.

Female Cigarette and Alcohol Consumption as a Short-Term Mating Strategy

In developed countries, the traditional gender gap in youth smoking and drinking is closing. As tobacco and alcohol are more harmful to women than to men, this is an alarming trend. As men are generally more short-term oriented in their sexuality than women, and given that cigarette and alcohol use are still considered masculine behaviors, we explored if female smoking and drinking can function as a short-term mating strategy. By means of a between-subjects experiment ( N = 218), men’s perceptions of female smoking and drinking were studied. The experiment showed that young men perceive women who use cigarettes and alcohol as being more sexually unrestricted. Furthermore, tobacco and (especially) alcohol use brought some short-term attractiveness benefits to women. In short-term mating contexts, drinking enhanced women’s attractiveness, whereas occasional smoking was found equally desirable as not smoking. However, in long-term mating contexts, frequent drinking and all smoking behavior harmed women’s desirability. A follow-up study ( N = 202) confirmed men’s perceptions, showing that female users of tobacco and alcohol are indeed more short-term oriented in their sexuality. Overall, results indicate that female smoking and drinking can operate as a short-term mating strategy.

Aggressive delinquency among north American indigenous adolescents: Trajectories and predictors

Aggressive delinquency is a salient social problem for many North American Indigenous (American Indian, Canadian First Nations) communities, and can have deleterious consequences later in life. Yet there is a paucity of research on Indigenous delinquency. Group-based trajectory modeling is used to prospectively examine trajectories of aggressive delinquency over the course of adolescence using data from 646 Indigenous adolescents from a single culture, spanning the ages of 10-19. Five aggression trajectory groups were identified, characterized by different levels and ages of onset and desistence: non-offenders (22.1%), moderate desistors (19.9%), adolescent-limited offenders (22.2%), high desistors (16.7%), and chronic offenders (19.2%). Using the social development model of antisocial behavior, we selected relevant risk and protective factors predicted to discriminate among those most and least likely to engage in more aggressive behavior. Higher levels of risk (i.e., parent rejection, delinquent peers, substance use, and early dating) in early adolescence were associated with being in the two groups with the highest levels of aggressive delinquency. Positive school adjustment, the only significant protective factor, was associated with being in the lowest aggression trajectory groups. The results provide important information that could be used in developing prevention and intervention programs, particularly regarding vulnerable ages as well as malleable risk factors. Identifying those youth most at risk of engaging in higher levels of aggression may be key to preventing delinquency and reducing the over-representation of Indigenous youth in the justice system.

A history of ashes: an 80 year comparative portrait of smoking initiation in American Indians and Non-Hispanic whites--the Strong Heart Study

The consequences of starting smoking by age 18 are significant. Early smoking initiation is associated with higher tobacco dependence, increased difficulty in smoking cessation and more negative health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine how closely smoking initiation in a well-defined population of American Indians (AI) resembles a group of Non-Hispanic white (NHW) populations born over an 80 year period. We obtained data on age of smoking initiation among 7,073 AIs who were members of 13 tribes in Arizona, Oklahoma and North and South Dakota from the 1988 Strong Heart Study (SHS) and the 2001 Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS) and 19,747 NHW participants in the 2003 National Health Interview Survey. The participants were born as early as 1904 and as late as 1985. We classified participants according to birth cohort by decade, sex, and for AIs, according to location. We estimated the cumulative incidence of smoking initiation by age 18 in each sex and birth cohort group in both AIs and NHWs and used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios for the association of birth cohort, sex and region with the age at smoking initiation. We found that the cumulative incidence of smoking initiation by age 18 was higher in males than females in all SHS regions and in NHWs (p < 0.001). Our results show regional variation of age of initiation significant in the SHS (p < 0.001). Our data showed that not all AIs (in this sample) showed similar trends toward increased earlier smoking. For instance, Oklahoma SHS male participants born in the 1980s initiated smoking before age 18 less often than those born before 1920 by a ratio of 0.7. The results showed significant variation in age of initiation across sex, birth cohort, and location. Our preliminary analyses suggest that AI smoking trends are not uniform across region or gender but are likely shaped by local context. If tobacco prevention and control programs depend in part on addressing the origin of AI smoking it may be helpful to increase the awareness in regional differences.

Dating and substance use in adolescent peer networks: a replication and extension

AIMS

The current report examined associations between romantic partner, peer and individual substance use behaviors in a sample of American adolescents.

DESIGN

The report used two waves of data (8th and 9th grades) from the Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) intervention project and focused on dating couples and their friends in 54 sampled school-cohorts. Hierarchical logistic regression models examined the associations between friend, partner and friend-of-partner substance use and daters' future drinking and smoking.

SETTING

Surveys administered in rural Pennsylvania and Iowa secondary schools.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 744 dating couples.

MEASUREMENTS

Student participants completed questionnaires that assessed substance use, background characteristics and dating and friend nominations. Friend, partner and friend-of-partner substance use were assessed at each wave directly from respective reports.

FINDINGS

Consistent with a bridging hypothesis, friends-of-partner drinking had a strong and independent association with subsequent drunkenness (b = 1.40, P < 0.01) and drinking (b = 0.82, P < 0.01) among daters, and these associations did not vary by gender. A similar association was not observed for smoking, where partner (b = 0.77, P < 0.01) and direct friends (b = 1.19, P < 0.05) smoking showed strong and significant associations with future smoking, but friends-of-partner smoking did not (b = -0.44, P > 0.10).

CONCLUSION

Romantic partner and peer behaviors have substantially different associations with adolescent drinking and smoking. Intervention efforts aimed at reducing teenage smoking should be aimed at proximal peer and romantic relationships, whereas interventions of teenage drinking should also include the wider circle of indirect friends.

Can one puff really make an adolescent addicted to nicotine? A critical review of the literature

Rationale

In the past decade, there have been various attempts to understand the initiation and progression of tobacco smoking among adolescents. One line of research on these issues has made strong claims regarding the speed in which adolescents can become physically and mentally addicted to smoking. According to these claims, and in contrast to other models of smoking progression, adolescents can lose autonomy over their smoking behavior after having smoked one puff in their lifetime and never having smoked again, and can become mentally and physically "hooked on nicotine" even if they have never smoked a puff.

Objectives

To critically examine the conceptual and empirical basis for the claims made by the "hooked on nicotine" thesis.

Method

We reviewed the major studies on which the claims of the "hooked on nicotine" research program are based.

Results

The studies we reviewed contained substantive conceptual and methodological flaws. These include an untenable and idiosyncratic definition of addiction, use of single items or of very lenient criteria for diagnosing nicotine dependence, reliance on responders' causal attributions in determining physical and mental addiction to nicotine and biased coding and interpretation of the data.

Discussion

The conceptual and methodological problems detailed in this review invalidate many of the claims made by the "hooked on nicotine" research program and undermine its contribution to the understanding of the nature and development of tobacco smoking in adolescents.

Pubertal timing and smoking initiation in adolescent females: differences by race

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to examine whether (a) early pubertal timing effects on smoking onset existed for both White and Black girls and (b) whether the association between pubertal timing and smoking onset was moderated by race.

METHODS

Participants included 264 girls (14.9 +/- 2.2 years, 164 White, and 100 Black) at the baseline report of a longitudinal study of whom 153 reported smoking and age at first cigarette.

RESULTS

Kaplan-Meier analysis stratified by racial group showed a significant difference between the pubertal timing groups for Black girls only. After accounting for covariates using Cox regression, there was no significant interaction between pubertal timing and racial group. There was a main effect of pubertal timing indicating that late maturers were at significantly lower risk for smoking initiation compared with the early and on-time groups, but the early and on-time groups were not significantly different from each other.

DISCUSSION

Results point to equal risk of early smoking onset for early and on-time maturers of both racial groups, indicating the need for smoking prevention in early adolescence for both White and Black females.

Smoking behaviours, access to cigarettes and relationships with alcohol in 15- and 16-year-old schoolchildren

BACKGROUND

Adolescent smoking is a significant public health concern in the UK and across Europe. This study examines smoking behaviours, methods of accessing cigarettes and use of non-commercial (fake, foreign and single) cigarettes across a sample of schoolchildren. Relationships with alcohol consumption, deprivation, personal income and extra-curricular activities are also explored.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of 9833 15- and 16-year-old schoolchildren in the North West of England.

RESULTS

Cigarettes were most commonly accessed from off-licences and newsagents, but pupils also reported non-commercial access through friends, family and street sellers/neighbours. A high percentage of smokers had bought foreign (57%), fake (28%) and single (54%) cigarettes. Frequent binge drinking, not participating in extra-curricular activities, receiving greater personal income, and having parents that smoked were significantly associated with being a regular and heavier smoker. Frequent binge drinking was also significantly associated with buying foreign/fake or single cigarettes. A higher percentage of those living in deprived areas were current smokers, although deprivation was not an independent predictor of cigarette use.

CONCLUSION

Strategies that restrict commercial access to cigarettes among adolescents may increase their reliance on social methods of access, and use of fake, foreign and single cigarettes. Interventions to reduce adolescent smoking must recognize the critical role of parents and communities in discouraging smoking and preventing social access to cigarettes in children. A joint approach to prevention is required that targets children at risk of smoking, heavy alcohol use and associated health-damaging behaviours.

Dating and changes in adolescent cigarette smoking: does partner smoking behavior matter?

INTRODUCTION

Adolescents' relationships can play an influential role in adopting, maintaining, or changing health behaviors. Previous research has suggested that adolescent dating is a risk factor for both concurrent and prospective tobacco use. This study extends previous research by examining whether a partner's smoking status moderated the relationship between dating and adolescent smoking.

METHODS

Participants were 1,263 9th and 10th grade students who took part in a longitudinal study investigating the social and emotional contexts of adolescent smoking patterns. Adolescents were recruited into the longitudinal study based on prior smoking history. The presence of a romantic partner, the partner's smoking status, and the adolescents' smoking behavior were assessed at baseline and at 15 months.

RESULTS

Our findings indicated that a change in dating status from not dating to having a partner significantly increased the odds of the adolescent smoking at 15 months but significantly only for those who dated a smoker. This effect was especially pronounced among boys. All boys who dated a smoker smoked themselves. Among adolescents who smoked at 15 months, there was also a strong protective effect among boys for dating a nonsmoker, compared with either those who did not have partners or those with smoking partners; boys with nonsmoking partners smoked significantly less than those with partners who smoked or those without partners.

DISCUSSION

These results highlight the importance of considering the smoking status of the romantic partner in the smoking-dating relationship in adolescents.