Factors related to cigarette smoking and intent to quit among adolescent inpatients with psychiatric and substance use disorders.

Purpose: Smoking behaviors and intent to quit have not been well studied among adolescent psychiatric patients. The current study examined the relationships between smoking-related variables (smoking status/heaviness and intent to quit), psychiatric diagnoses and symptomatology, and substance use among adolescents receiving psychiatric inpatient care.

Methods: Baseline data from a randomized controlled trial, testing the effect of a brief intervention on substance use, with 151 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents with comorbid psychiatric and substance use disorders (diagnosed using semi-structured interviews) were examined for this study.

Results: Of 151 inpatients aged 13-17 years, 112 (74.2%) were smokers (self-report), of whom 59 (52.7%) expressed intent to quit within 3 months and 36 (32.1%) within 30 days. There were no differences in psychiatric diagnoses or alcohol, marijuana, or any drug use among smokers and nonsmokers. On the other hand, smokers reported significantly greater occurrences of negative consequences from alcohol use, drug use, and total substance use than nonsmokers. Separate analyses also revealed that heavier smokers reported greater negative consequences from alcohol/drug/total use. Similarly, while no difference in externalizing or internalizing symptoms was observed across smokers vs. nonsmokers, heavier smokers reported significantly more severe externalizing symptoms, but not internalizing symptoms, than lighter smokers. Intention to quit smoking did not vary as a function of psychiatric symptomatology or substance use.

Conclusions: Smoking was related to several psychiatric and substance use problems. Notably, adolescent psychiatric inpatient smokers reported intention to quit smoking regardless of psychiatric disorders, psychiatric symptom severity, or other substance use.