The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood in a midwestern community sample: Multiple trajectories and their psychosocial correlates.

Abstract

Previous research on the natural history of smoking has focused on overall group trajectories without considering the possibility of risk subgroup variation. To address this limitation, the authors of the present study aimed to identify subgroups with varying trajectories of smoking behavior. The authors accomplished this within a cohort-sequential study of a large community sample (N = 8,556) with measurements spanning ages 11-31. After removing 2 a priori groups (abstainers and erratics), the authors empirically identified 4 trajectory groups--early stable smokers, late stable smokers, experimenters, and quitters--and psychosocial variables from adolescence and young adulthood were significantly distinguished among them. Given recent advances in quantitative methods, it is now feasible to consider subgroups of trajectories within an overall longitudinal design.

Does smoking among friends explain apparent genetic effects on current smoking in adolescence and young adulthood?

“…There is considerable evidence in the literature that the smoking behaviour of friends has a major influence on the current and future smoking of adolescents and young adults (Flay et al, 1994(Flay et al, , 1998Distefan et al, 1998;Engels et al, 1999;Chassin et al, 2000;Leatherdale et al, 2005). If, as our study found, MZ pairs are more similar in their friends' smoking behaviours than are DZ pairs, this could explain some or all of the greater correlation of smoking observed in MZ twins.…”

Multiple trajectories of cigarette smoking and the intergenerational transmission of smoking: A multigenerational, longitudinal study of a midwestern community sample.

“…Also, as seen in 1 The trajectories reported in Chassin et al (2000) examined earlier ages and produced similar but not identical solutions (see Chassin et al, in press, for details). Chassin et al (2000) labeled groups as abstainers, experimenters, early stable (now called early-onset persistent), late stable (now called late onset), erratics (now called relapsers/remitters), and quitters (now called developmentally limited smokers to differentiate them from the successful quitters who quit in adulthood and were not identified in the earlier analysis) The current solution also differentiated stable quitters as an a priori group and identified a high school-onset group. 2 We also estimated models defining parents' current smoking as at least daily and eliminating nondaily smokers, as well as reclassifying nondaily smokers as nonsmokers.…”

“…These trajectories represent developmental phenotypes of smoking, and, similar to the antisocial behavior literature, they may also vary in the risk that they carry for the intergenerational transmission of smoking. Chassin et al (2000) found that a trajectory group that was of particular interest for intergenerational transmission was the group of early-onset persistent smokers. Compared with other smoking trajectories, these individuals began smoking at a young age, escalated steeply to a high rate of smoking, and persisted in their smoking into adulthood, and they had the highest levels of smoking among their biological parents.…”

Predictors of nicotine dependence symptoms among never-smoking adolescents: A longitudinal analysis from the Nicotine Dependence in Teens Study

“…First, the analytical sample (N = 847) included a large number of adolescents recruited in secondary schools. Given that adolescence is the developmental stage when individuals are most likely to experiment with tobacco (Chassin et al, 2000), this period was optimal for evaluating risk factors for ND. Second, the measurement definitions of ND and never-smoking status were rigorous.…”