The relationship between smoking, drinking, and adolescents' self-perceived health and frequency of hospitalization: analyses from the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Purpose: To investigate the more immediate health effects of smoking and drinking among adolescents.
Methods: Secondary analyses of data from the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse were conducted to explore the relationship between subjective and objective health outcomes and the use of alcohol and tobacco among adolescents.
Results: The findings suggest that adolescents who smoke or drink actually report poorer health during adolescence than those who do not. In fact, adolescents who are frequent or heavy alcohol and tobacco users report poorer subjective overall health and a greater number of overnight hospital stays during the previous year than less frequent or intense users and than nonusers. In addition, the data revealed a number of significant gender and age group differences in reports of health outcome as well.
Conclusions: Demonstrating to youngsters the more immediate, negative health consequences of alcohol and tobacco use might strengthen prevention messages and ultimately decrease the use of these substances among adolescents.