A six-year follow-up study of determinants of heavy cigarette smoking among high-school seniors

Most adult cigarette smokers start smoking during adolescence. Few studies, however have focused on adolescents that are heavy smokers. The present st udy examined how several risk and protective factors measured during early adolescence were associated with heavy smoking in a sample of high-school s eniors. As part of a school-based survey, seventh-grade students (N = 743) reported degrees of experimentation with psychoactive substances and severa l psychosocial factors deemed to be important in the etiology of smoking. S tudents were followed-up in the twelfth grade, when 12% (n = 88) smoked a p ack of cigarettes or more each day. Logistic regression analyses revealed t hat heavy smoking was predicted by several earlier variables: poor grades, experimentation with cigarettes or alcohol, a mother or many friends that s moked, and high risk-taking in the seventh grade. Antismoking attitudes and those of one's parents and friends predicted less later heavy smoking in g irls only. Implications for smoking prevention are discussed.