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Home / American Journal of Health Behavior, Volume 29, Number 1

A New Measure of Smoking Initiation and Progression Among Adolescents

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Objective: To develop a new measure of smoking initiation and progression among adolescents. Method: This study used data from 2504 regular and alternative high school students to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new 3-item, 5-stage measure of smoking initiation and progression. Results: The categorization method showed good 4-week test-retest reliability (.83 among boys and .87 among girls). The demographic distribution of adolescents into stages was consistent with previous research. Conclusion: This 5-stage classification method could be a useful framework for describing variation along the smoking up-take and progression continuum.

Keywords: cigarette smoking; initiation; progression; stages; tobacco use

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research, and Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Alhambra, CA.

Publication date: 01 January 2005

More about this publication?

  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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