Smoking Level (smoking + level)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Comparing the effects of entertainment media and tobacco marketing on youth smoking in Germany

ADDICTION, Issue 5 2009
James D. Sargent
ABSTRACT Aims To examine differential effects of smoking in films and tobacco advertising on adolescent smoking. We hypothesize that movie smoking will have greater effects on smoking initiation, whereas tobacco advertising receptivity will primarily affect experimentation. Design Longitudinal observational study of adolescents. Setting School-based surveys conducted in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Participants A total of 4384 adolescents age 11,15 years at baseline and re-surveyed 1 year later; ever smoking prevalence was 38% at time 1. Measurements The main outcome variable combined two items assessing life-time and current smoking (alpha = 0.87). Baseline never smokers were analyzed separately from those who had tried smoking (ever smokers). Exposure to smoking in 398 internationally distributed US movies was modeled as a continuous variable, with 0 corresponding to the 5th percentile and 1 to the 95th percentile of exposure. Tobacco marketing receptivity consisted of naming a brand for a favorite tobacco advertisement. Ordinal logistic regressions controlled for socio-demographics, other social influences, personality characteristics of the adolescent and parenting style. Findings Whereas 34% of ever smokers were receptive to tobacco marketing at time 1, only 6% of never smokers were. Among time 1 never smokers, exposure to movie smoking was a significantly stronger predictor of higher time 2 smoking level [adjusted proportional odds ratio = 2.76, 95% confidence interval (1.84, 4.15)] than was tobacco marketing receptivity (1.53 [1.07, 2.20]). Among time 1 ever smokers, both tobacco marketing receptivity and exposure to movie smoking predicted higher levels of time 2 smoking [2.17 (1.78, 2.63) and 1.62 (1.18, 2.23), respectively], and the two estimates were not significantly different. Conclusions In this longitudinal study, exposure to movie smoking was a stronger predictor of smoking initiation than tobacco marketing receptivity, which was more common among ever smokers. The results suggest that entertainment media smoking should be emphasized in programs aimed at preventing onset, and both exposures should be emphasized in programs aimed at experimental smokers. [source]


Modeling mood variation associated with smoking: an application of a heterogeneous mixed-effects model for analysis of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data

ADDICTION, Issue 2 2009
Donald Hedeker
ABSTRACT Aims Mixed models are used increasingly for analysis of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data. The variance parameters of the random effects, which indicate the degree of heterogeneity in the population of subjects, are considered usually to be homogeneous across subjects. Modeling these variances can shed light on interesting hypotheses in substance abuse research. Design We describe how these variances can be modeled in terms of covariates to examine the covariate effects on between-subjects variation, focusing on positive and negative mood and the degree to which these moods change as a function of smoking. Setting The data are drawn from an EMA study of adolescent smoking. Participants Participants were 234 adolescents, either in 9th or 10th grades, who provided EMA mood reports from both random prompts and following smoking events. Measurements We focused on two mood outcomes: measures of the subject's negative and positive affect and several covariates: gender, grade, negative mood regulation and smoking level. Findings and conclusions Following smoking, adolescents experienced higher positive affect and lower negative affect than they did at random, non-smoking times. Our analyses also indicated an increased consistency of subjective mood responses as smoking experience increased and a diminishing of mood change. [source]


Reduction of quantity smoked predicts future cessation among older smokers

ADDICTION, Issue 1 2004
Tracy Falba
ABSTRACT Aim To examine whether smokers who reduce their quantity of cigarettes smoked between two periods are more or less likely to quit subsequently. Study design Data come from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of older Americans aged 51,61 in 1991 followed every 2 years from 1992 to 1998. The 2064 participants smoking at baseline and the first follow-up comprise the main sample. Measurements Smoking cessation by 1996 is examined as the primary outcome. A secondary outcome is relapse by 1998. Spontaneous changes in smoking quantity between the first two waves make up the key predictor variables. Control variables include gender, age, education, race, marital status, alcohol use, psychiatric problems, acute or chronic health problems and smoking quantity. Findings Large (over 50%) and even moderate (25,50%) reductions in quantity smoked between 1992 and 1994 predict prospectively increased likelihood of cessation in 1996 compared to no change in quantity (OR 2.96, P < 0.001 and OR 1.61, P < 0.01, respectively). Additionally, those who reduced and then quit were somewhat less likely to relapse by 1998 than those who did not reduce in the 2 years prior to quitting. Conclusions Reducing successfully the quantity of cigarettes smoked appears to have a beneficial effect on future cessation likelihood, even after controlling for initial smoking level and other variables known to impact smoking cessation. These results indicate that the harm reduction strategy of reduced smoking warrants further study. [source]


Non-pecuniary returns to higher education: the effect on smoking intensity in the UK

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 8 2010
Massimiliano Bratti
Abstract This paper investigates whether higher education (HE) produces non-pecuniary returns via a reduction in the intensity of consumption of health-damaging substances. In particular, it focuses on current smoking intensity of the British individuals sampled in the 29-year follow-up survey of the 1970 British Cohort Study. We estimate endogenous dummy ordinal response models for cigarette consumption and show that HE is endogenous with respect to smoking intensity and that even when endogeneity is accounted for, HE is found to have a strong negative effect on smoking intensity. Moreover, pecuniary channels, such as occupation and income, mediate only a minor part of the effect of HE. Our results are robust to modelling individual self-selection into current smoking participation (at age 29) and to estimating a dynamic model in which past smoking levels affect current smoking levels. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]