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Background Family smoking environment and family management are associated with risk of teen smoking behaviors. However, less is known about whether these associations increase or decrease in strength across adolescence, and whether there are person-environment interactions. The current study examined 1) the age-varying main effects of family smoking and family management on adolescent daily smoking from ages 12–18 and tested 2) whether behavioral disinhibition and anxiety moderated these relationships. Methods Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP; N = 808), a longitudinal study examining prosocial and antisocial behavior. Analyses used time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), which tested the stability of the relationship between family smoking and family management and youth daily smoking across adolescence. Results Greater family smoking increased the likelihood of adolescent daily smoking, whereas greater family management reduced the likelihood of daily smoking. Significant interactions between family management and youth behavioral disinhibition and anxiety during early and mid-adolescence indicated that family management was more protective for adolescents with low (compared to high) behavioral disinhibition and anxiety. The effect of family smoking was not moderated by behavioral disinhibition or anxiety. Conclusions Family smoking and family management are key risk and protective factors that may be targeted for adolescent smoking prevention. Our interaction results for individual differences in behavioral disinhibition and anxiety suggest that certain types of youth may respond differently to family management practices. Findings also show periods during adolescence where family-centered preventive interventions could be optimally timed to prevent or reduce persistent adolescent smoking.

The present study evaluated the predictive validity of individual early emerging nicotine dependence symptoms in adolescence on smoking behavior in young adulthood.A total of 492 adolescents who, at baseline, had not smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and 123 adolescents who smoked more than 100 cigarettes lifetime, and who participated in the 6-year follow-up assessment were included in the present analyses. Predictive validity of 10 nicotine dependence items administered at baseline was evaluated at the 6 year follow-up when the sample had entered young adulthood (mean age=21.6).Among adolescents who had smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes, experiencing higher levels of overall nicotine dependence as well as individual symptoms at baseline longitudinally predicted an increase in risk for daily smoking in young adulthood, after controlling for baseline smoking and other tobacco use. For adolescents who had smoked more than 100 cigarettes at baseline, level of nicotine dependence and individual symptom endorsement did not predict smoking behavior in young adulthood.These findings add to accumulating evidence that early emerging dependence symptoms reported at low levels of smoking exposure signal a greater propensity for continued smoking behavior. Screening for these early emerging symptoms among novice adolescent smokers represents an important and unused tool in tobacco control efforts aimed at preventing the development of chronic smoking patterns.

The present study examined the prevalence of individual nicotine dependence symptoms among recent onset smokers across the continuum of nondaily and daily cigarette smoking behavior in a nationally representative sample of recent onset smokers from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Rates of endorsement for 17 symptoms drawn primarily from the Nicotine Dependence Symptom Scale (Shiffman, Waters, & Hickcox, 2004) were calculated for four levels of nondaily (smoked 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, or 21-29 days in the past 30 days) and daily (smoked 1, 2-5, 6-15, or >15 cigarettes per day in the past 30 days) smoking. Logistic and linear regression analyses with polynomial contrasts controlling for age, gender, length of exposure, and smoking quantity tested trends in symptom endorsement across levels of smoking. Significant linear and quadratic trends indicated that increasing rates of endorsement differed most between the lowest levels of nondaily and daily smoking. Results suggest that, for some, infrequent smoking may not represent benign experimentation. Recognizing early symptoms of nicotine dependence may assist in early identification and intervention of those at risk for heavier smoking in the future. Adolescents can be taught to recognize the early symptoms of nicotine dependence to increase awareness of the rapidity at which these symptoms may appear.

Background: Marijuana and tobacco are the substances used most commonly by adolescents and co-occurring use is common. Use of one substance may potentiate the addictive properties of the other. The current study examined the severity of nicotine addiction among teen smokers as a function of co-occurring marijuana use. Methods: Participants were 165 adolescents (13-17 years old) who reported smoking at least 1 cigarette per day (CPD) in the past 30 days. General linear models examined the association of marijuana use with multiple measures of nicotine addiction including the Modified Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (mFTQ), Hooked on Nicotine Checklist (HONC), ICD-10, and the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS). Results: The adolescent sample (mean age. = 16.1 years, SD. = 0.95) averaged 3.0 CPD (SD. = 3.0) for 1.98 years (SD. = 1.5). Most (79.5%) also smoked marijuana in the past 30 days. In models controlling for age, daily smoking status, and years of tobacco smoking, frequency of marijuana use accounted for 25-44% of the variance for all four measures of adolescent nicotine dependence. Conclusions: Marijuana use was associated with greater reported nicotine addiction among adolescent smokers. The findings suggest a role of marijuana in potentiating nicotine addiction and underscore the need for treatments that address both smoked substances. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

This study considers the extent to which daily consumption of cigarettes in young adults varies by age at first cigarette and duration of smoking. Data come from a random sample of 21- to 30-year-old members of a large HMO in the Detroit area. Daily cigarette consumption by current smokers varied by duration of daily smoking: the longer the duration, the higher the number of cigarettes smoked. Duration from first cigarette to daily smoking bore no relationship to cigarette consumption. When duration of daily smoking was statistically controlled, the association between cigarette consumption and age at first cigarette was not statistically significant. The findings suggest that public health efforts to delay daily smoking among adolescents might reduce cigarette consumption in early adulthood.

The effect of methadone dose on the cigarette smoking of five methadone maintenance subjects was studied in a clinical setting. Following a two-week baseline period, daily doses of methadone were either increased (50-80 mg) or decreased (80-50 mg) every two weeks according to an A-B-A-B study design. Continuous self-monitoring was used to collect data on natural smoking behavior, and expired air carbon monoxide (CO) levels were measured at each clinic visit. The predicted methadone dose-related changes in smoking were found in three of the five subjects. Fine-grained analysis of self-monitoring records showed that the proportion of total daily smoking was highest within 4 h after taking methadone for three subjects. CO levels were not significantly associated with smoking rate. The results further support and extend previous reports that methadone may produce dose-related increases in smoking. No reactive effects of self-monitoring were observed, and compliance with this procedure was extremely high, supporting the usefulness of this method for assessing natural smoking behavior in this population.

We examined the extent to which nicotine dependence and daily smoking might vary by age at first cigarette. The potential confounding effects of sex, race and history of childhood behaviour problems were examined as well. A sample of 1200 was randomly selected from the subset of 21-30-year-old members of a large HMO in the Detroit SMSA; 1007 (84%) agreed to participate. Personal interviews were conducted in respondents' homes, using the NIMH-DIS to elicit information on DSM-III-R diagnoses, including nicotine dependence. Controlling for sex and race, persons who smoked their first cigarette at 14 to 16 years of age were 1.6 times more likely to become dependent than those who initiated smoking at an older age (P = 0.03). The association was unchanged when history of childhood behaviour problems was also controlled. Smoking initiation before age 14 was not associated with increased probability of dependence. Persons who initiated smoking before age 14 had a longer lag time to daily smoking and a lower likelihood of progressing to daily smoking, compared to persons who initiated smoking later on. The findings suggest that, among persons who have ever smoked, there might be two distinct groups in whom the chances of developing dependence are considerably reduced. The first comprises persons who delayed first use until age 17. The second comprises persons who smoked their first cigarette before age 14, a group in whom the progression to daily smoking might be markedly slower than in persons who initiated smoking when they were older.