Selected lifestyle and risk behaviors associated with adolescents' smoking

A selected number of lifestyle and risk behaviors of adolescents in relatio n to their smoking were studied using both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. Data of a national sample of 4,431 nonsmoking adolescents who pa rticipated in the 1989 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey and were re-i nterviewed in 1993 mere analyzed. Adolescents who engaged in physical fight s, engaged in drunk driving, and were risk-takers were more likely to be re gular experimental smokers than adolescents who did not exhibit these behav iors. The data suggest that high-risk behaviors may cluster. Interventions may be necessary to target multiple risk behaviors and be more effective in changing adolescents' risk behaviors associated with smoking.