Development and initial testing of the brief adolescent smoking curiosity scale (ASCOS)

BACKGROUND: Although the reasons behind tobacco smoking at young age are complex, research has identified curiosity as a potent driver of smoking among adolescents. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the current study is to develop and provide initial evidence of reliability and validity of a short scale assessing smoking curiosity among adolescents (first measure of its kind). In particular, we developed and tested the adolescent smoking curiosity scale (ASCOS). METHODS: After scale development, 101 adolescents completed a survey on smoking-related measures, including ASCOS (June to August, 2014). We conducted exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha calculation to inspect factor-structure and reliability. We conducted multiple linear regression models to examine the scale’s capacity to predict antecedents of smoking initiation. RESULTS: Factor analysis supported a single-factor structure of smoking curiosity. ASCOS was internally reliable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.83). Controlling for demographics, the measure correlated significantly with temptation to try smoking (β=0.41, p