Measurement of adolescent smoking behavior: Rationale and methods
- 1 March 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Journal of Behavioral Medicine
- Vol. 7 (1), 123-140
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00845351
Abstract
The initiation of cigarette smoking among adolescents is a health problem which has been the subject of discussion and study for many years. The evaluation of strategies to deter the adoption of smoking has long been hampered by the problems of measuring adolescent smoking behavior. Recently, interest has increased in biochemical measures of smoking under the assumption that they are more objective measures. The validity of this assumption is addressed for several ages of adolescents. This paper presents saliva thiocyanate levels, expired air carbon monoxide levels, and smoking self-reports from a sample of 2200 junior and senior highschool students. Interrelationships among the biochemical and behavioral measures are strong among the total population, ranging from 0.48 to 0.95 (Pearson r)but are much weaker at the younger age levels. Normative levels of carbon monoxide and saliva thiocyanate are presented by age (11–13, 14–15, and 16–17 years old). These data indicate that habitual smoking appears to develop in a gradual fashion and that several years may pass between initial experimentation and adult levels of smoking. Younger students consistently display lower levels of thiocyanate and carbon monoxide than older students of the same self-reported levels of smoking, suggesting that inhalation patterns may vary as a function of age or years smoking.This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Prevention of Cigarette Smoking in Children: A Comparison of Four Strategies1Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1984
- Cigarette smoking among adolescents: Is the rate declining?Preventive Medicine, 1982
- The Minnesota Smoking Prevention ProgramJournal of School Health, 1981
- Social modeling films to deter smoking in adolescents: Results of a three-year field investigation.Journal of Applied Psychology, 1981
- The smoking problem: A review of the research and theory in behavioral risk modification.Psychological Bulletin, 1980
- WHAT RESEARCHERS MAKE OF WHAT CIGARETTE SMOKERS SAY: FILTERING SMOKERS' HOT AIRThe Lancet, 1980
- Preventing the onset of cigarette smoking through life skills trainingPreventive Medicine, 1980
- Improved gas-chromatographic method and micro-extraction technique for the measurement of nicotine in biological fluidsJournal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 1979
- Deterring the Onset of Smoking in Children: Knowledge of Immediate Physiological Effects and Coping with Peer Pressure, Media Pressure, and Parent Modeling1Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1978
- Nicotine and its metabolites. Radioimmunoassays for nicotine and cotinineBiochemistry, 1973