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Nicotine & Tobacco Research Advance Access published online on April 14, 2009
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, doi:10.1093/ntr/ntp023
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Adolescent nondaily smokers: Favorable views of tobacco yet receptive to cessation

Matthew J. Carpenter, Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, Camelia Vitoc, Kathleen Cartmell, Sharon Biggers and Anthony J. Alberg

Matthew J. Carpenter, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, Ph.D., Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Camelia Vitoc, M.D., M.S.P.H., South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control, 177 St. Julian Place, Columbia, SC
Kathleen Cartmell, M.P.H., Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Sharon Biggers, C.H.E.S., South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control, 177 St. Julian Place, Columbia, SC
Anthony Alberg, Ph.D., M.P.H., Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Corresponding author: Matthew J. Carpenter, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, 86 Jonathan Lucas Street, PO Box 250955, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. Telephone: 843 792-3974; Fax: 843 792-5526; E-mail: carpente{at}musc.edu


  Abstract

Introduction: Favorable views of cigarette use may be a potentiating factor that influences the progression of nicotine dependence among adolescents.

Methods: Using data from the South Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey (2005–2007), a statewide two-stage cluster sample of students in Grades 6–12 (N = 7,385), we examined attitudes toward smoking and quit behaviors among adolescent smokers across a range of smoking frequencies.

Results: Compared with past-30-day nonsmokers, adolescents who smoked 1–2 days in the past month were more likely to believe that (a) smokers have more friends, (b) smoking looks cool, and (c) it is safe to smoke in the short term and then quit, but less likely to think that (d) tobacco is as addictive as other drugs and (e) smoking few cigarettes per day is harmful. Those who smoked 1–2 days in the past month were similar to more frequent smokers, including those who smoked daily. Similar findings were found for lifetime exposure to smoking. Among those who smoked 1–2 days in the previous month, motivation to quit (54%) and incidence of quit attempts (52% in past year) were slightly higher compared with heavier smokers.

Discussion: Even minimal levels of cigarette use are associated with favorable views of smoking, and adolescents with minimal levels of cigarette use resemble chronic smokers in several key ways. Adolescents at very early stages of cigarette use are at significant risk for chronic use. Tobacco control efforts should capitalize on motivation to quit with focused prevention strategies that arrest the progression from nondaily to daily smoking.

Received: May 7, 2008; Accepted: September 15, 2008
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