TY  - JOUR
A1  - Buchmann, Arlette F.
A1  - Blomeyer, Dorothea
A1  - Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine
A1  - Schmidt, Martin H.
A1  - Esser, Günter
A1  - Banaschewski, Tobias
A1  - Laucht, Manfred
T1  - Early smoking onset may promise initial pleasurable sensations and later addiction
JF  - Addiction biology
N2  - There is converging evidence suggesting a particular susceptibility to the addictive properties of nicotine among adolescents. The aim of the current study was to prospectively ascertain the relationship between age at first cigarette and initial smoking experiences, and to examine the combined effects of these characteristics of adolescent smoking behavior on adult smoking. It was hypothesized that the association between earlier age at first cigarette and later development of nicotine dependence may, at least in part, be attributable to differences in experiencing pleasurable early smoking sensations. Data were drawn from the participants of the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, an ongoing epidemiological cohort study from birth to adulthood. Structured interviews at age 15, 19 and 22 years were conducted to assess the age at first cigarette, early smoking experiences and current smoking behavior in 213 young adults. In addition, the participants completed the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence. Adolescents who smoked their first cigarette at an earlier age reported more pleasurable sensations from the cigarette, and they were more likely to be regular smokers at age 22. The age at first cigarette also predicted the number of cigarettes smoked and dependence at age 22. Thus, both the age of first cigarette and the pleasure experienced from the cigarette independently predicted aspects of smoking at age 22.
KW  - Adolescence
KW  - age at first cigarette
KW  - dependence
KW  - early smoking experiences
KW  - longitudinal study
KW  - pleasurable smoking sensations
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00377.x
SN  - 1369-1600
VL  - 18
IS  - 6
SP  - 947
EP  - 954
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -