A risk factor index predicting adolescent cigarette smoking: A 7-year longitudinal study.

Abstract

The authors used longitudinal data to develop a risk factor index (RFI) for the prediction of smoking behavior in youth. Students were followed yearly from 6th through 12th grades in a prospective longitudinal study. Ten risk factors were identified and combined into an RFI. Data were analyzed with a generalized estimating equations approach. The RFI predicted both concurrent smoking and use of cigarettes in the succeeding year. It further predicted whether a youth would smoke at any point during his or her school career. Prediction was better for boys than for girls. Furthermore, the RFI better predicted heavy smoking than any use of cigarettes. The RFI could be useful in selecting youth for intensive prevention and early intervention efforts. Results also suggest the importance of further examination of gender differences in smoking behavior.

The cigar as a drug delivery device: youth use of blunts

“…1998; Najaka et al . 2001; Soldz & Cui 2001). Blunt users are more likely to have poor school functioning and less likely to live in two‐parent families.…”

Spousal influence on smoking behaviors in a US community sample of newly married couples

“…It is also possible that there are other, genderspecific risk factors involved in smoking relapse that make women more likely to return to smoking. In a study of risk factors and smoking, Soldz and Cui (2001) found that the belief that smoking was a valid approach to control weight was a stronger predictor of heavy smoking among girls compared to boys. Also, sociability has been related to smoking among females, but not males (Killen et al, 1997).…”

Pathways through adolescent smoking: A 7-year longitudinal grouping analysis.

“…Participants were students at 26 schools in 12 communities included in the Massachusetts Substance Abuse Longitudinal Study (MSALS; Soldz & Cui, 2001), a study of the longitudinal course of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and associated attitudes and behaviors conducted by Health and Addictions Research for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. All students in sixth-grade classes in selected schools were asked to participate.…”