Childhood cigarette and alcohol use: Negative links with adjustment

Abstract

Children who initiate cigarette or alcohol use early—during childhood or early adolescence—experience a heightened risk of nicotine and alcohol dependence in later life as well as school failure, crime, injury, and mortality. Using prospective intergenerational data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), we investigate the association between early substance use initiation (cigarettes or alcohol) and age 11 school engagement, academic achievement, and wellbeing. The ongoing MCS tracks the development of a nationally representative sample of children in the United Kingdom (born 2000–2002) from infancy through adolescence. At age 11, MCS children (n=13,221) indicated whether they had ever used cigarettes or alcohol; at age 7 and 11 they reported on school engagement and wellbeing and completed investigator-assessed tests of academic achievement. Using propensity score methods, children who had initiated cigarette or alcohol use by age 11 were matched to abstaining children with similar risks (or propensities) of early substance use, based on numerous early life risk and protective factors assessed from infancy to age 7. We then examined whether early initiators differed from non-initiators in age 11 adjustment and achievement. Results show that substance use by age 11 was uncommon (3% cigarettes; 13% alcohol). After matching for propensity for early initiation, school engagement and wellbeing were significantly lower among initiators compared to non-initiators. Academic achievement was not consistently related to early initiation. We conclude that initiation of smoking and drinking in childhood is associated with poorer adjustment.

Experimentação do álcool e tabaco entre adolescentes da região Centro-Oeste/Brasil

“…This investigation emphasizes that the highest prevalence of tobacco experimentation occurred in boys and these results show the adolescent's behavior towards tobacco use, and that increased, worldwide, from the twentieth century, associated with the idea of masculinity, strength, and power, influenced by advertisements that conveyed the image of success 37 . Concerning gender, the results corroborate several previous studies and point out that being male is a predominant factor for tobacco experimentation 20,27,[38][39][40][41] .…”

“…The same result was observed in Argentina 19 and the United Kingdom 20 . However, in the study Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), it was observed that, among adolescents aged 11 and 13 years, no difference was found in weekly consumption between genders, but, at the age of 15 years, alcohol consumption is higher in boys 21 .…”

A Review of Data Analysis for Early-Childhood Period: Taxonomy, Motivations, Challenges, Recommendation, and Methodological Aspects

“…Other common related articles (n = 6/21) presented other risks associated with childhood period that are not a disease but may cause the deterioration of children's health and lead to a disease. Other interesting areas covered in literature that are related to these causes are germs and bacteria [197], contaminated drinking water [198], [199], childhood cigarette and alcohol use [22], smoke exposure [200], and risk of hospitalization [201].…”

“…Some researchers encouraged assessment in case language abilities and prosocial behavior [3] and the monitoring of behavioral development for children to investigate maltreatment [194]. Youth adjustments should be studied in relation to early substance use patterns [22]. Health characterization pattern should be investigated in relation to different races [139].…”

“…Researchers worldwide utilized different data analysis measures in their respected fields for different reasons. Researchers tend to work with different analysis methods for various scientific purposes, such as evaluation [18], classification [19], investigations [11], [20], data modeling [21] and prediction [22]. Others highlighted the role of data analysis for its contribution to research [13], answering research questions [23] and the relationship of findings [24].…”