Psychology and wellbeing - Teens Who Feel Relaxed After First Cigarette More Likely To Get Hooked

While personality factors often determine which young people will try smoking, it appears that it is the manner in which the brain reacts to nicotine, rather than personality, that is most important to determining whether an adolescent will become hooked on nicotine once he or she has tried it.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have conducted the first study to determine why some adolescents who try smoking get addicted while others do not.

“We know that nicotine can have an immediate impact on the brain, and yet we also know that not every adolescent who tries a cigarette gets hooked,” said the study’s lead author, Joseph R. DiFranza. “We wanted to know what accounts for the difference in vulnerability among adolescents who pick up that first cigarette.”

“It appears that it is an addictive physiology and not an addictive personality that determines who will become dependent,” observed Dr. DiFranza.

The four-year prospective study was based on over 12,000 interviews with 1,246 sixth-graders in public schools in six Massachusetts communities. Researchers assessed 46 risk factors in categories such as personality, attitudes and beliefs about smoking, smoking by parents, siblings and peers, family and community involvement, and reactions to inhaling from a cigarette for the first time.

When all factors were considered together, an experience of relaxation in response to the first dose of nicotine was the strongest predictor of future addiction.

Other factors that predicted addiction were a novelty-seeking personality and a depressed mood.

Adapted from Eurekalert.

Also see:

Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes Increasing Steadily

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