Original article
Predictors and Sequelae of Smoking Topography Over the Course of a Single Cigarette in Adolescent Light Smokers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.06.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this study was to determine whether adolescent smokers, who varied in their smoking histories and symptoms of nicotine dependence, exhibit any decrease in puff volume and duration similar to that typically seen in dependent adolescent and adult smokers. Moreover, we examined whether puffing trajectories were moderated by individual difference factors, as well as whether puffing topography over the course of smoking a single cigarette was predictive of an escalation in dependence symptoms.

Methods

We assessed smoking topography (puff number, duration, volume, maximum flow rate [velocity], and inter-puff interval) over the course of smoking a single cigarette in a sample of 78 adolescent light smokers, using hierarchical linear modeling. We examined moderators (anxiety, depression, nicotine dependence) of the topographic trajectories, as well as whether smoking topography predicted any change in dependence over a 2-year period.

Results

Puff volume and puff duration decreased over the course of smoking the cigarette, whereas puff velocity and inter-puff interval increased. Slopes for puff volume and duration were moderated by anxiety and depressive symptoms. Moreover, individuals with a less “typical” topography pattern (exhibited stable or increasing volume and duration over the course of smoking the cigarette) demonstrated a heightened dependence escalation in the subsequent 2 years.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that adolescent light smokers self-regulate nicotine during the course of smoking a single cigarette, similar to that reported in dependent adolescent and adult smokers. However, single cigarette self-regulation was influenced by certain affective factors. Implications of these findings and future directions for adolescent smoking research are discussed.

Section snippets

Participants

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Because all the participants included in the study were adolescents, laboratory sessions were conducted after obtaining a signed parental consent, in addition to a signed assent from each of the participants. Because of the sensitive nature of the study (i.e., administration of cigarettes to minors), caution was taken to ensure that the participants and their guardians understood the aims and

Sample characteristics

The sample comprised 78 adolescent smokers (75.6% white, 47.4% women), with a mean age of 15.71 years (SD = .61). Participants exhibited a mean mFTQ score of 2.69 (SD = 1.39), and reported smoking 23.06 (SD = 20.04) cigarettes in the week before the experimental session (Table 1). The majority (75.6%) of the participants reported smoking almost every day, where 38.5% smoked two or less cigarettes per day, 37.2% smoked 3–5 cigarettes per day, and 24.3% smoked six or more cigarettes per day. In

Discussion

To our knowledge, the current study was the first to investigate puffing behavior over the course of smoking a single cigarette in a sample of adolescent smokers who varied in their smoking histories and degree of nicotine dependence. Our data were consistent with those of Collins et al [6] who also found decreases in puff volume and duration, increases in puff velocity, and a trend toward a linear increase in inter-puff interval, over the course of smoking a single cigarette. Notably, when

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant (1PO1CA98262) from the National Cancer Institute. Certain sections of this paper were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, Baltimore, Maryland, in February, 2010.

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