Stress-coping and other psychosocial risk factors: A model for smoking in grade 6 students

Smoking uptake by adolescents is best studied by a following a cohort of ch ildren as they proceed through adolescence. In this analysis of the first s tage of such a study, several hypotheses about psychosocial factors that ma y modify the initiation of smoking in adolescents were examined in 1,552 11 - and 12-year-olds in a school system in Scarborough, Canada. Investigation of the stress-coping hypothesis and other possible effect modifiers as the y relate to ever-smoking revealed that stress (measured by number of life e vents) was important for both males and females (p = .0163 and .0056, respe ctively). However, the mechanisms underlying smoking appear to be different for males and females, even at this young age. In models adjusting for sev eral factors simultaneously, rebelliousness was found to be the most import ant factor (p = .0001) followed by attitudes toward the effect of second-ha nd smoke (p = .0063) for males, whereas for females, mother smoking was the most important factor (p = .0001) followed by rebelliousness (p = .0102). Implications for design of prevention programs are discussed. (C) 1999 Else vier Science Ltd.