Relationship Between Tobacco Smoking Curiosity And Levels Of Physical Activity And Sedentary Behavior In Adolescence.

Abstract

Relationship between tobacco smoking curiosity and levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior in adolescence. BACKGROUND: Low physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), and tobacco use are three behavioral risk factors linked to poor long-term health outcomes, and they tend to cluster together in individuals. Expressing any curiosity about smoking predicts future risk of tobacco use among adolescents who have never smoked. However, little research has explored the extent to which low PA levels or SB may predict risk of future tobacco use, assessed by the expression of curiosity about smoking, among adolescents who have never smoked. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between curiosity about smoking (and hence risk of future tobacco use) and levels of PA or SB among never users. METHODS: A cross-sectional sample of 9th grade students (N = 2,380, mean age = 14.55 years [SD = 0.43], 53.2% female, 47.4% Hispanic or Latino) students participating in a multi-wave cohort study completed in-classroom self-report measures assessing PA, SB, and cigarette curiosity. RESULTS: After controlling for age, ethnicity, gender, depressive symptoms, and anhedonia, both number of days of any PA (b = −0.10, p = 0.01) and days of moderate to vigorous PA (b = −0.07, p = 0.03) were negatively associated with smoking curiosity. However, SB was not related to cigarette smoking curiosity (p’s>0.10). CONCLUSIONS: This study helps to identify adolescents potentially at-risk for future tobacco use and other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (i.e., low PA levels). These results provide insight for tailoring future PA and tobacco use prevention programs in youth. Follow-up studies with this cohort will provide further information regarding the utility of using these questionnaires for early identification of at-risk youth. Carlo Mazzaferro Sarah Linke, PhD David Stong, PhD Genevieve Dunton, PhD Jimi Huh, PhD Adam Leventhal, PhD Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, With grant support from National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA033296A1) and Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (21XT-0076)