Original articleFamily influences on the risk of daily smoking initiation
Section snippets
Participants
The participants in this study were 808 individuals who participated in the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), a longitudinal study of the development of positive and antisocial behaviors. These participants were recruited in the fall of 1985 from all fifth-grade students attending 18 Seattle elementary schools serving high-crime neighborhoods (N = 1053). Of these students, 808 (77%) consented to take part in the study. Of the 808 students, 412 (51%) were male; 372 (46%) were white, 195
Prevalence and risk of daily smoking initiation
A total of 14.9% of SSDP participants reported having smoked cigarettes daily in the past 30 days at age 16 in the 1991 survey, and this prevalence increased to 21.6% at age 18 in the 1993 survey. These prevalences in this urban multiethnic sample were slightly higher than the corresponding national prevalences in the Monitoring the Future study in the same time periods. For example, nationally, 12.6% of 10th graders (about age 16) in 1991, and 19.0% of 12th graders (about age 18) in 1993
Discussion
This study demonstrates that family factors matter in predicting the onset of daily smoking in adolescence. In this sample, they mattered early in adolescence, at age 14–15, and continued in importance as a predictor of daily smoking initiation throughout adolescence. Only bonding to parents declined in significance as a predictor in late adolescence.
Social development theory suggests that family factors play an important role in the initiation and escalation of smoking in adolescence. Few
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by grants #R01DA09679 and #R01DA012138 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the SDRG data collection team, as well as Tanya Williams for her help in editing this manuscript.
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