Anna V. Song

Perceptions of smoking-related risks and benefits as predictors of adolescent smoking initiation.

OBJECTIVES The predictive value of perceptions of smoking-related risks and benefits with regard to adolescent smoking initiation has not been adequately established. We used prospective, longitudinal data to directly test whether smoking-related perceptions predict smoking initiation among adolescents. METHODS We administered surveys assessing perceptions of smoking-related risks and benefits to 395 high school students, beginning at the start of their ninth-grade year. We conducted follow-up assessments every 6 months until the end of 10th grade, obtaining 4 waves of data. RESULTS Adolescents who held the lowest perceptions of long-term smoking-related risks were 3.64 times more likely to start smoking than were adolescents who held the highest perceptions of risk. Adolescents who held the lowest perceptions of short-term smoking-related risks were 2.68 times more likely to initiate. Adolescents who held the highest perceptions of smoking-related benefits were 3.31 times more likely to initiate. CONCLUSIONS Findings from this study provide one of the first sets of empirical evidence to show that smoking initiation is directly related to smoking-related perceptions of risks and benefits. Thus, efforts to reduce adolescent smoking should continue to communicate the health risks of smoking and counteract perceptions of benefits associated with smoking.

Social smoking among young adults: investigation of intentions and attempts to quit.

OBJECTIVES We compared the association between 3 different definitions of social smoking-a common pattern of smoking among young adults-and cessation indicators. METHODS We used a Web-enabled, cross-sectional national survey of 1528 young adults (aged 18-25 years) from a panel (recruited by random-digit dialing) maintained by the research group Knowledge Networks. RESULTS Among 455 smokers, 62% self-identified or behaved as social smokers. Compared with established smokers, self-identified social smokers were less likely to have cessation intentions (odds ratio [OR] = 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.70, 0.98) and cessation attempts lasting 1 month or longer (OR = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.45, 0.66). Behavioral social smokers (mainly or only smoking with others) were more likely than were self-identified social smokers (those who did not report these behavior patterns) to have cessation intentions (mainly OR(mainly) = 1.66; 95% CI = 1.05, 2.63; and OR(only) = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.02, 3.97) and cessation attempts (OR(mainly) = 4.33; 95% CI = 2.68, 7.00; and OR(only) = 6.82; 95% CI = 3.29, 14.15). CONCLUSIONS Self-identified social smokers may be considered a high-risk group with particular challenges for cessation. Behavioral social smokers may represent a group primed for cessation. Public health efforts should address these differences when developing smoking cessation strategies.

Eminence, IQ, Physical and Mental Health, and Achievement Domain Cox's 282 Geniuses Revisited

Catharine Cox published two studies of highly eminent creators and leaders, the first in 1926 as the second volume of Termans landmark Genetic Studies of Genius and the second in 1936 as a coauthored article. The former publication concentrated on the relation between IQ and achieved eminence, and the latter focused on early physical and mental health. Taking advantage of unpublished data from the second study, we examined, for the first time, the relationships among achieved eminence, IQ, early physical and mental health, and achievement domain. The correlation and regression analyses showed, for these 282 individuals, that eminence is a positive function of IQ and that IQ is a positive function of mental health and a negative function of physical health, implying an indirect effect of physical and mental health on eminence. Furthermore, levels of early physical and mental health vary across 10 specific domains of achievement.

Effect of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and voluntary industry health warning labels on passage of mandated cigarette warning labels from 1965 to 2012: transition probability and event history analyses.

OBJECTIVES We quantified the pattern and passage rate of cigarette package health warning labels (HWLs), including the effect of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and HWLs voluntarily implemented by tobacco companies. METHODS We used transition probability matrices to describe the pattern of HWL passage and change rate in 4 periods. We used event history analysis to estimate the effect of the FCTC on adoption and to compare that effect between countries with voluntary and mandatory HWLs. RESULTS The number of HWLs passed during each period accelerated, from a transition rate among countries that changed from 2.42 per year in 1965-1977 to 6.71 in 1977-1984, 8.42 in 1984-2003, and 22.33 in 2003-2012. The FCTC significantly accelerated passage of FCTC-compliant HWLs for countries with initially mandatory policies with a hazard of 1.27 per year (95% confidence interval = 1.11, 1.45), but only marginally increased the hazard for countries that had an industry voluntary HWL of 1.68 per year (95% confidence interval = 0.95, 2.97). CONCLUSIONS Passage of HWLs is accelerating, and the FCTC is associated with further acceleration. Industry voluntary HWLs slowed mandated HWLs.

Adolescents report both positive and negative consequences of experimentation with cigarette use

OBJECTIVE To examine the physiological and social consequences that 9th and 10th grade adolescents experience as a result of experimenting with cigarette use, and whether consequences vary by level of experimentation and gender. METHOD Data were collected between 2001 and 2004 from 395 adolescents attending two northern California public high schools. Analyses are limited to 155 adolescents who reported puffing on cigarettes or smoking whole cigarettes at any of four time points during the study. RESULTS The percentage of adolescents reporting consequences of smoking was as follows: any positive consequence (56%), felt relaxed (46%), looked cool (31%), looked grown-up (27%), became popular (17%), any negative consequence (56%), friends were upset (35%), trouble catching breath (29%), bad cough (26%), and got into trouble (23%). Ten percent of adolescents reported only experiencing negative consequences, 11% reported only positive consequences, 45% reported both negative and positive consequences, and 34% reported no consequences. Greater levels of experimentation were associated with greater likelihood of reporting positive or negative consequences. Few gender differences emerged. CONCLUSION Adolescents experience both positive and negative consequences of experimentation with cigarette use. Prevention and intervention efforts should acknowledge that positive consequences of smoking may occur and address how these consequences can be achieved through other behaviors.

Association of Smoke-Free Laws With Lower Percentages of New and Current Smokers Among Adolescents and Young Adults: An 11-Year Longitudinal Study

IMPORTANCE Smoke-free laws are associated with a lower prevalence of smoking. OBJECTIVE To quantify the effect of 100% smoke-free laws on the smoking behavior of adolescents and young adults in a longitudinal analysis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Pooled logistic regression and zero-inflated negative binomial regression analysis of participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (data from 1997 to 2007), with complete data on initiation of smoking (n = 4098) and number of days respondents reported smoking in the past 30 days (n = 3913). EXPOSURES Laws for 100% smoke-free workplaces, laws for 100% smoke-free bars, and state cigarette taxes. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Smoking initiation (first report of smoking cigarette), current (for 30 days) smoking, and number of days respondents reported smoking in the past 30 days among current smokers. RESULTS Laws for 100% smoke-free workplaces, but not bars, were associated with significantly lower odds of initiating smoking (odds ratio, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.44-0.99]). Laws for 100% smoke-free bars were associated with lower odds of being a current smoker (odds ratio, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.71-0.90]) and fewer days of smoking (incidence rate ratio, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.80-0.90]) among current smokers. Taxes were associated with a lower percentage of new smokers but not current smokers among adolescents and young adults. The effect of smoke-free workplace laws on smoking initiation is equivalent to a

Associations Among Body Size, Body Image Perceptions, and Weight Loss Attempts Among African American, Latino, and White Youth: A Test of a Mediational Model

1.57 (in 2007 dollars) tax increase. Smoke-free bar laws are associated with lower rates of current smoking, as well as a decrease in the number of days reported smoking among current smokers. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Smoke-free laws are an important tobacco control tool. They not only protect bystanders from secondhand smoke but also contribute to less smoking among adolescents and young adults.

Self-Esteem as a Mediator between Personality Traits and Body Esteem: Path Analyses across Gender and Race/Ethnicity

OBJECTIVE Little is known about influences on weight loss attempts, yet about one-half report making such attempts during adolescence. The aim was to examine the relationships among weight loss attempts, body size, and body perception in racially/ethnically diverse young adolescents. METHODS 3,954 African American, Latino, and White 5th-graders completed the Self-Perception Profile-Physical Appearance Scale and questions regarding body perceptions and past and current weight loss attempts, and had their weight and height measured. RESULTS Latino youth most often and White youth least often reported weight loss attempts. Larger body size and negative body perception were related to more reported weight loss attempts in White and Latino youth. Body perception mediated the relationship between body size and weight loss attempts for White youth. CONCLUSION Motivations to lose weight appear to differ among racial/ethnic groups, suggesting that interventions for healthy weight control in youth may need to target racial/ethnic groups differently.

Beyond experimentation: Five trajectories of cigarette smoking in a longitudinal sample of youth

Prior literature examines the direct relationship between personality traits and body esteem. This article explores the possibility that self-esteem mediates this relationship. 165 undergraduate women and 133 men (age 18–21; 42.6% Hispanic, 28.9% Asian, 28.5% Caucasian) completed items measuring personality traits (Big Five), self-esteem, and body esteem. Path analyses were used to test for mediation. The analyses confirmed that in both men and women self-esteem mediated the relationship between three personality traits and body esteem: higher levels of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and extraversion were associated with higher self-esteem and consequently higher body esteem. Once self-esteem was included in the model the relationships between personality traits and body esteem were not significant, suggesting full mediation. In addition, the analyses revealed several racial/ethnic differences. In Asian American participants, self-esteem mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and body esteem and between emotional stability and body esteem. In Hispanic Americans, self-esteem mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and body esteem and between extraversion and body esteem. And in Caucasian Americans, self-esteem mediated the relationship between emotional stability and body esteem and between extraversion and body esteem. The most important contribution of this study is evidence for an indirect relationship between personality traits and body esteem, with this relationship being mediated by self-esteem. This has important implications for the study of personality and eating disorders in young adults, most particularly implying a need for more emphasis on self-esteem as a predictor of body image problems.

Personal Gambling Expectancies Among Asian American and White American College Students

The first goal of this study was to identify the most appropriate measure of cigarette smoking for identifying unique smoking trajectories among adolescents; the second goal was to describe the resulting trajectories and their characteristics. Using 15 annual waves of smoking data in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), we conducted an exploratory latent class growth analysis to determine the best of four outcome variables for yearly smoking (cigarettes per day on days smoked, days smoked per month, mean cigarettes per day, and total cigarettes per month) among individuals aged 12 to 30 (n = 8,791). Days smoked per month was the best outcome variable for identifying unique longitudinal trajectories of smoking and characteristics of these trajectories that could be used to target different types of smokers for prevention and cessation. Objective statistics were used to identify four trajectories in addition to never smokers (34.1%): experimenters (13.6%), quitters (8.1%), early established smokers (39.0%), and late escalators (5.2%). We identified a quitter and late escalator class not identified in the only other comparable latent class growth analysis. Logistic regressions were used to identify the characteristics of individuals in each trajectory. Compared with never smokers, all trajectories except late escalators were less likely to be black; experimenters were more likely to be out of school and unemployed and drink alcohol in adolescence; quitters were more likely to have a mother with a high school degree/GED or higher (versus none) and to use substances in adolescence and less likely to have ever married as a young adult; early established smokers were more likely to have a mother with a high school diploma or GED, be out of school and unemployed, not live with both parents, have used substances, be depressed, and have peers who smoked in adolescence and to have children as young adults and less likely to be Hispanic and to have ever married as young adults; and late escalators were more likely to be Hispanic, drink alcohol, and break rules in adolescence and less likely to have ever married as young adults. Because of the number of waves of data analyzed, this analysis provided a clearer temporal depiction of smoking behavior and more easily distinguishable smoking trajectories than previous analyses. Tobacco control interventions need to move beyond youth-focused approaches to reach all smokers.