Depression, Sensation Seeking, and Maternal Smoking as Predictors of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking

Judy Van De Venne,Kay Bradford,Megan Cox,Catherine Martin,Hatim A Omar

doi:10.1100/tsw.2006.128

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine maternal and adolescent depression, maternal and teen sensation seeking, and maternal smoking, and their associations with adolescent smoking. Data were collected from a sample of 47 male and 66 female adolescents (ages 11—18 years) and their mothers from three different health clinics. The findings indicated that maternal sensation seeking was linked indirectly with adolescent smoking through teen sensation seeking, both of which were significantly associated with teen smoking (β = 0.29, p < 0.001 and β = 0.32, p < 0.001, respectively). Teen depression was associated positively with teen smoking (β = 0.24, p < 0.01) when controlling for sensation seeking behaviors. Maternal smoking was also directly linked to adolescent smoking (β = 0.20, p < 0.05). These findings underscore a potentially important role of sensation seeking in the origins of adolescent smoking, and clarify pathways of influence with regard to maternal attitudes and behaviors in subsequent teenage nicotine use.

Highlights

Tobacco use has long been identified as the cause of the greatest amount of preventable disease, disability, and death in the U.S.[1]
We examine maternal and adolescent depression, maternal and teen sensation seeking, and maternal smoking to assess the relative strength of their associations with adolescent smoking
Teenage lifetime smoking status was significantly associated with teenage depression (r = 0.24, p < 0.05), teenage sensation seeking (r = 0.31, p < 0.01), maternal lifetime smoking status (r = 0.21, p < 0.05), and age (r = 0.20, p < 0.05); these were all in the expected directions

Summary

Introduction

Tobacco use has long been identified as the cause of the greatest amount of preventable disease, disability, and death in the U.S.[1]. Described as a pediatric epidemic, tobacco is considered a gateway drug to other drug use and a robust risk factor in nontobacco substance abuse disorders in later adolescence when nicotine or substance abuse is initiated before 13 years of age[2,3,4]. Sensation seeking — the TheScientificWorldJOURNAL (2006) 6, 643–652 pursuit of varied, novel, or intense sensations and experiences — has been studied relatively less often, there is literature that substantiates linkages between risk-taking behavior and smoking acquisition[10,11,12]. We examine maternal and adolescent depression, maternal and teen sensation seeking, and maternal smoking to assess the relative strength of their associations with adolescent smoking

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion