Trajectories of criteria of nicotine dependence from adolescence to early adulthood.

Background: To identify patterns and correlates of developmental trajectories of DSM-IV nicotine dependence criteria from adolescence to early adulthood.

Methods: The analytical sample of lifetime smokers (N=877) is from a longitudinal cohort of 6th-10th graders drawn from an urban school system. Subjects were interviewed 5 times at 6-month intervals and once 4.

Molecular mechanism for a gateway drug: epigenetic changes initiated by nicotine prime gene expression by cocaine.

In human populations, cigarettes and alcohol generally serve as gateway drugs, which people use first before progressing to marijuana, cocaine, or other illicit substances. To understand the biological basis of the gateway sequence of drug use, we developed an animal model in mice and used it to study the effects of nicotine on subsequent responses to cocaine. We found that pretreatment of mice with nicotine increased the response to cocaine, as assessed by addiction-related behaviors and synaptic plasticity in the striatum, a brain region critical for addiction-related reward.

Linking measures of adult nicotine dependence to a common latent continuum and a comparison with adolescent patterns.

Background: An ongoing debate regarding the nature of nicotine dependence (ND) is whether the same instrument can be applied to measure ND among adults and adolescents. Using a hierarchical item response model (IRM), we examined evidence for a common continuum underlying ND symptoms among adults and adolescents.

Method: The analyses are based on two waves of interviews with subsamples of parents and adolescents from a multi-ethnic longitudinal cohort of one thousand and thirty-nine 6-10th graders from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Age-related differences in cigarette smoking among whites and African-Americans: evidence for the crossover hypothesis.

Background: Age crossover describes the age-related reversal in prevalence of current cigarette smoking among non-Hispanic whites and African-Americans, with prevalence higher among whites than African-Americans in adolescence but lower in adulthood. Prior studies have examined smoking patterns in separate adolescent and adult samples and have not sought to identify factors that could account for crossover. We conducted analyses using national samples to identify factors that account for crossover and estimate their impact on crossover age.

Comorbid psychiatric disorders and nicotine dependence in adolescence.

Aims: To examine bidirectional influences of onset of psychiatric disorders and nicotine dependence among adolescent smokers.

Design: A prospective longitudinal cohort of adolescents and mothers drawn from a large city school system. Adolescents were interviewed five times and mothers three times over 2 years.

Risk and protective factors for nicotine dependence in adolescence.

Background: We investigated the role of psychosocial and proximal contextual factors on nicotine dependence in adolescence.

Methods: Data on a multiethnic cohort of 6th to 10th graders from the Chicago public schools were obtained from four household interviews conducted with adolescents over two years and one interview with mothers. Structural equation models were estimated on 660 youths who had smoked cigarettes by the first interview.

Educational attainment and smoking among women: risk factors and consequences for offspring.

We examine the association between education and smoking by women in the population, including smoking during pregnancy, and identify risk factors for smoking and the consequences of smoking in pregnancy for children's smoking and behavioral problems. Secondary analyses of four national data sets were implemented: The National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2006), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2004); the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Wave III); National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005-2006). The lower the level of education, the greater the risk of being a current smoker, smoking daily, smoking heavily, being nicotine dependent, starting to smoke at an early age, having higher levels of circulating cotinine per cigarettes smoked, and continuing to smoke in pregnancy.

ADOLESCENTS' INCONSISTENCY IN SELF-REPORTED SMOKING: A COMPARISON OF REPORTS IN SCHOOL AND IN HOUSEHOLD SETTINGS.

Extent and sources of inconsistency in self-reported cigarette smoking between self-administered school surveys and household interviews was examined in two longitudinal multiethnic adolescent samples, the urban Transition to Nicotine Dependence in Adolescence (TND) (N = 832) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) (N = 4,414). Inconsistency was defined as a positive report of smoking in school followed by a negative report in the household. Smoking questions were ascertained with paper-and-pencil instruments (PAPI-SAQ) in school in both studies, and computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) in TND but audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) in Add Health in the household.

Comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and nicotine dependence among adolescents: findings from a prospective, longitudinal study.

Objective: To examine prospectively the comorbidity of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders and nicotine dependence in adolescence.

Method: A multiethnic sample (N = 1,039) of adolescents from grades 6 to 10 in the Chicago public schools (mean age 14.1 years) was interviewed at home five times, and mothers were interviewed three times over a 2-year period (2003-2005).

Developmental trajectories of criteria of nicotine dependence in adolescence.

We describe the nature and predictors of developmental trajectories of symptoms of DSM-IV nicotine dependence in adolescence following smoking initiation. Data are from a longitudinal cohort of 324 new smokers from grades 6-10 in the Chicago Public Schools, interviewed 5 times at 6-month intervals. Monthly data on DSM-IV symptoms of nicotine dependence were available for 36 months.

On the development of nicotine dependence in adolescence.

Little is known about the natural history of drug dependence. This article describes the development and predictors of DSM-IV nicotine dependence in adolescence when tobacco use is initiated. In a two-stage design, a survey was administered to 6th-10th graders in the Chicago Public Schools to select a cohort of adolescents.

Urine nicotine metabolites and smoking behavior in a multiracial/multiethnic national sample of young adults.

Nicotine metabolism has been hypothesized to affect patterns of smoking. The recent development of a noninvasive measure of nicotine metabolism, the nicotine metabolite ratio (trans-3'-hydroxycotinine/cotinine), makes it possible to examine the association between rate of nicotine metabolism and smoking behavior in the general population. This US study examined group differences in the ratio measured in urine and the association between the ratio and multiple measures of smoking behavior and nicotine dependence in a large, national representative sample of young adults.

Salivary cotinine concentration versus self-reported cigarette smoking: Three patterns of inconsistency in adolescence.

The present study examined the extent and sources of discrepancies between self-reported cigarette smoking and salivary cotinine concentration among adolescents. The data are from household interviews with a cohort of 1,024 adolescents from an urban school system. Histories of tobacco use in the last 7 days and saliva samples were obtained.

On the measurement of nicotine dependence in adolescence: comparisons of the mFTQ and a DSM-IV-based scale.

Objective: To compare nicotine-dependent smokers identified by the modified Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (mFTQ) and a scale based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), in a multiethnic adolescent sample.

Methods: A school survey was conducted on 6th- to 10th-grade students (N=15,007) in a large urban public school system.

Results: The two scales formed two distinct factors.

Racial/ethnic differences in cigarette smoking initiation and progression to daily smoking: a multilevel analysis.

Objectives: We sought to identify individual and contextual predictors of adolescent smoking initiation and progression to daily smoking by race/ethnicity.

Methods: We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to estimate the effects of individual (adolescent, family, peer) and contextual (school and state) factors on smoking onset among nonsmokers (n = 5374) and progression to daily smoking among smokers (n = 4474) with multilevel regression models.

Results: Individual factors were more important predictors of smoking behaviors than were contextual factors.