This study examines the developmental patterns and predictors of risk of initiation of cigarette smoking from adolescence to young adulthood. It is hypothesized that the risk of initiation varies significantly at different ages from adolescence to young adulthood. A variety of individual, family, peer, school, and neighborhood factors are hypothesized to influence the risk of initiation, and possibly, have different effects at different developmental periods. The sample is from Seattle Social Development Project, an longitudinal panel study of 808 youth interviewed annually from 1985 (at approximately age 10 years) to 1991 (age 16), and again in 1993 (age 18) and 1996 (age 21). The sample, which was selected to over-represent students from schools serving high crime neighborhoods, is gender-balanced, ethnically diverse, which high retention rate (95% of the original sample were interviewed at age 21). Information on cigarette smoking were available from age 10 to age 21. Discrete-time survival analysis is used to assess the hazard of initiation at multiple time points from age 10 to 21. Time-variant and time-invariant covariates from individual, family, peer, school and neighborhood domains are included to study their effects on the hazard rate. Finally, interactions between important predictors and age are added to examine whether the effects of each predictor varies at different developmental period. The results will have important implications for the prevention of cigarette smoking among adolescents.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1. Understand the risk of initiating cigarette smoking from age 10 to age 21, and 2. Identify important predictors of the risk of initiating cigarette smoking from multiple domains of factors
Keywords: Smoking, Adolescents
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.