Weight concerns significant predictor of girls' smoking.

Navigation: Main page

Author: Unknown

In a study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, researchers found that weight concerns and the drive to be thin at a young age increased the risk that girls would become daily smokers by the age of 18 or 19 years.

The prospective cohort study followed 1,213 black and 1,166 white girls at three locations from ages 9 to 10 years to ages 18 to 19 years. Girls were annually assessed on a variety of physical variables (blood lipids, blood pressure, food intake), as well as behavioral and other variables (e.g., concerns about weight), via in-depth interviews.

Overall, white girls were more likely to become daily smokers, whereas black girls were more likely than white girls to become experimental or occasional smokers. Weight concerns and drive for thinness at age 11 to 12 were significant predictors of daily smoking at the end of the study for both black and white girls. Other risk factors for white girls included living in a one-parent household, lower parental education, drinking alcohol at ages 11 to 12, lower stress at ages 10 to 11, and higher stress at ages 11 to 12.

The researchers suggest that their findings provide evidence that childhood and adolescent factors do relate to adult smoking behavior. They also propose that programs that offer young teenage girls healthful ways of controlling their weight and dealing with stress may be helpful in reducing smoking initiation. (Voorhees CC, Schreiber GB, Schumann BC, et al. Early predictors of daily smoking in young women: the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health study. Prev Med 2002; 34:616-24)