IDENTIFICATION OF ADOLESCENTS AT RISK FOR SMOKING INITIATION - VALIDATION OF A MEASURE OF SUSCEPTIBILITY

Primary prevention of smoking in adolescents requires effective screen ing instruments for identifying those adolescents who are most likely to experiment with cigarettes. This study investigated the predictive value of a measure of susceptibility to smoking (the lack of a firm co mmitment not to smoke) for predicting smoking initiation 1 and 2 years later among 687 seventh-grade nonsmokers. Results showed that suscept ible adolescents were approximately two to three times more likely to experiment with cigarettes during the ensuing 2 years than were nonsus ceptible adolescents. At the lower levels of smoking, these relationsh ips persisted even alter controlling for psychosocial variables. Measu res of susceptibility to smoking could be an effective tool for identi fying adolescents at increased risk of experimenting with cigarettes o r assessing their readiness for smoking-prevention programs. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd