The peer influence on adolescent smoking, across ages 14 through 18 years, confirmed previous literature. However, no differential effect of family and peer influence on adolescent smoking was evident.

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This study examined the association of depressive symptoms of adolescents and their smoking behavior. A national cohort sample of school adolescents (N = 5,855) who participated in the 1989 and 1993 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey was obtained. The information from this survey included measures of smoking behavior and a series of factors related to depressive symptoms during a 3-yr. span. A cross-lagged analysis with Kendall tau b correlations was used. Judging from the magnitude of the cross-lagged correlations, the direction of causation cannot be ascertained. Rather, a reciprocal relationship between depression and smoking may be suggested.

Abstract:Summary.-This study examined the predictive relationships between adolescents' smoking and symptoms of depression. A national sample of 6,900 adolescents, ages 14 to 18 years, were selected for analysis. Variables of interest included measures for smoking status and symptoms of depression. Odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio from logistic regression analyses indicated that more of the 885 smokers than of the 6,015 nonsmokers reported feelings of unhappiness, sadness, or depression, hopelessness about the future, and having trouble going to sleep. Article:Despite exposure to smoking prevention programs and the knowledge of adverse effects of cigarettes, many adolescents continue to smoke regularly (Cleary, Hitchcock, Semmer, Flinchbaugh, & Pinney, 1988). Cigarettes are still the number one drug used by adolescents (Flay, 1985) and each day over 3,000 teenagers in the U.S. begin smoking cigarettes (Leventhal & Cleary, 1980). Information about why adolescents smoke is important in increasing the efficacy of current interventions for smoking prevention and cessation. Researchers have reported an association between nicotine dependence and major depression for young adults (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1984;Breslau, Kilbey, & Andreski, 1991). However, no study has examined the association between symptoms of depression and the smoking status of adolescents within a national representative sample. This study investigated the predictive relationships between smoking status and the symptoms of depression among adolescents in the USA. METHODThe 1989 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (Moss, Allen, Giovino, & Mills, 1992). A nationwide random sample of 9,965 adolescents, ages 12 to 18 years, completed the telephone interview. Initial analysis indicated that the smoking prevalence for adolescents 12 and 13 years old was small (<2%). So, only adolescents ages 14 to 18 years (N = 6 ,900 , boys = 3,514, girls = 3,386) were included in the subsequent analysis.The information obtained from this survey included measures of smoking status and a series of factors related to symptoms of depression among others. The symptoms of depression were probed with questions asking whether during the past year respondents felt unhappy or depressed, felt hopeless about the future, felt nervous or tense, worried too much, or had trouble going to sleep.Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The dependent variable of smoking was dichotomized by current regular smoker versus never smoked (n = 6 ,015) . This paper defines regular smokers (n = 885) as those who were currently smoking, had smoked 10 or more days in the past 30 days, and had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes. Table 1 shows the univariate distributions of smoking prevalence by levels of symptoms of depression predictors. The statistics for the crude odds ratios indicate that all six symptoms of predictors of depression RESULTS

In assessing the relationships between self-reported depression and certain key risk-taking behaviors among a national sample of Hispanic adolescents (N = 935, ages 12 to 19 years), girls who reported depression were significantly more likely to engage in these behaviors than girls who did not report depression. No significant differences were found among boys (n = 470), although they were more likely than girls (n = 465) to take risks regardless of depressive state. These results suggest that depressive symptoms may be a market for engagement in risk-taking behaviors among Hispanic girls.