Adolescents becoming smokers: The roles of stress and coping methods

Purpose: To examine the relationship of stress and coping methods to smokin g status (never-smoker, experimenter, and current smoker) among an inner-ci ty, clinic-based, adolescent population, as well as to examine the prevalen ce of smoking and related behaviors in this population using a cross-sectio nal survey. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire that included the Perceived Stre ss Scale (PSS), negative life events (LES), and a coping measures scale was used with 954 clinic patients aged 12-21 years. Demographic characteristic s were compared using analysis of variance and Chi-square test. The Kruskal -Wallis analysis of variance was used to compare the values of each scale a mong smoking-status groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to determ ine the relationship of smoking status to PSS, LES, and coping methods. Results: The overall prevalence of smoking in this population was 26%. The age of onset was 13.3 years for current smokers vs. 15.5 for experimenters (p < .01). Perceived stress and negative life events, adjusting for demogra phic variables, were highest among current smokers, less so in experimenter s, and lowest in the never-smokers (p < .001). Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that negative life events, perceived stress, greater use o f the negative coping methods of anger and helplessness, and less use of th e positive coping methods of parental support and cognitive coping were sig nificantly and independently related to smoking status. Conclusions: One in four inner-city youth report smoking. Higher levels of stress and greater use of negative coping methods were found in current smo kers than in experimenters and never-smokers. (C) Society for Adolescent Me dicine, 2000.