ADOLESCENT NICOTINE DEPENDENCE MEASURED BY THE MODIFIED FAGERSTROM TOLERANCE QUESTIONNAIRE AT 2 TIME POINTS

Within the framework of a computer-assisted smoking prevention and ces sation program, high school students completed a modified version of t he Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ) as part of two in-class co mputerized survey sessions (Sessions I and II) spaced two months apart . Seventy-eight 10th, 11th and 12th grade smokers (at least 1 cigarett e/week) who have completed both computer sessions were included in the analysis. Individuals who changed the number of cigarettes smoked bet ween Sessions I and II were considered to have shifted their ''true sc ore'' on nicotine dependence. No proxy item for nicotine dependence wa s available in the survey, so the item ''How many cigarettes do you sm oke a day?'' was extracted from the modified FTQ to serve as the proxy item; thus, the analysis of test-retest reliability was based on 6 FT Q items. The test-retest analysis was restricted to students whose num ber of cigarettes per day did not vary across time points (n = 51). Pr incipal components analysis on the 7-item FTQ resulted in a single dim ension, accounting for 49.6% of the total variance. The Ci-item FTQ al so appears to be unidimensional, explaining 52.5% of the total varianc e. The computed component loadings support equal rather than different ial item weighting. Corrected item-total correlations for the 7-item s cale ranged from 0.47 to 0.73; for the 6-item FTQ, the corrected item- total correlations ranged from 0.45 to 0.71. Although the modified 6-i tem FTQ revealed sufficient stability over a two-month interval, with a test-retest correlation of 0.71, future research should include the development of items that better reflect adolescent smoking patterns. Limitations of the study are discussed.