Prevalence, reliability and bias of adolescents' reports of smoking and quitting.

A follow-up of smoking behaviour to age 18 in a longitudinal study of a birth cohort enabled an assessment of the prevalence of smoking and quitting among adolescents approaching adulthood. There was a dramatic increase in number of daily smokers (15% at age 15 years to 31% at age 18 years), and in a climate of expected decreases in smoking, a history of never smoking to age 15 years was not as protective against future smoking as anticipated. Among 15-year-olds who had experimented with smoking, only 11% per year stopped by age 18 years. Cessation rates for adolescent daily smokers were low (3% had not smoked in the last year at age 18 years), and previously have not been widely reported. We also examined some methodological issues related to self-reported prevalence rates, in particular reliability, validity and sources of bias, finding confirmation of the accuracy of information from prospective longitudinal studies and supporting the conclusion that adolescents' recall for information beyond a 1-year period is inconsistent.

[1]  M. Mittelmark,et al.  Cigarette smoking among adolescents: is the rate declining? , 1982, Preventive medicine.

[2]  M. Teichman,et al.  The reliability and consistency of self-reports on substance use in a longitudinal study. , 1987, British journal of addiction.

[3]  C. Perry,et al.  The validity of smoking self-reports by adolescents: a reexamination of the bogus pipeline procedure. , 1987, Addictive behaviors.

[4]  J. Pierce,et al.  Cotinine validation of self-reported smoking in commercially run community surveys. , 1987, Journal of chronic diseases.

[5]  D. Abrams,et al.  Saliva cotinine as a measure of smoking status in field settings. , 1987, American journal of public health.

[6]  R. West,et al.  Saliva cotinine as an indicator of cigarette smoking in adolescents. , 1987, British journal of addiction.

[7]  R. Luepker,et al.  Smoking prevalence in a cohort of adolescents, including absentees, dropouts, and transfers. , 1988, American journal of public health.

[8]  A V Swan,et al.  The Hawthorne effect in the measurement of adolescent smoking. , 1988, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[9]  K. Brown,et al.  Preventing cigarette smoking among school children. , 1988, Annual review of public health.

[10]  H. Leventhal,et al.  The quitting experience for smokers in sixth through twelfth grades. , 1989, Addictive behaviors.

[11]  W. Stanton,et al.  Prevalence of smoking in a Dunedin sample followed from age 9 to 15 years. , 1989, The New Zealand medical journal.

[12]  G. Koch,et al.  On the measurement of tobacco use by adolescents. Validity of self-reports of smokeless tobacco use and validity of cotinine as an indicator of cigarette smoking. , 1989, American journal of epidemiology.

[13]  C. Pomerleau,et al.  Relationship between nicotine tolerance questionnaire scores and plasma cotinine. , 1990, Addictive behaviors.

[14]  Phil A. Silva,et al.  The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: a 15 year longitudinal study. , 1990, Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology.

[15]  R. Luepker,et al.  Patterns of self-initiated smoking cessation among young adults. , 1990, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[16]  W. Stanton,et al.  Change in children's smoking from age 9 to age 15 years: the Dunedin Study. , 1991, Public health.

[17]  Clark C. Presson,et al.  Four pathways to young-adult smoking status: adolescent social-psychological antecedents in a midwestern community sample. , 1991, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[18]  D. Anderson,et al.  Tobacco-use reduction among high-risk youth: recommendations of a National Cancer Institute Expert Advisory Panel. , 1991, Preventive medicine.

[19]  J. Kristeller,et al.  Attitudes of adolescents toward smoking cessation. , 1992, American journal of preventive medicine.

[20]  G. Burke,et al.  Misclassification of smoking status in the CARDIA study: a comparison of self-report with serum cotinine levels. , 1992, American journal of public health.

[21]  S. McDaniel,et al.  Adolescent smoking intentions: gender differences in peer context. , 1992, Adolescence.

[22]  R. Pacifici,et al.  How the steady‐state cotinine concentration in cigarette smokers is directly related to nicotine intake , 1992, Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.

[23]  W. Stanton,et al.  Consistency in children's recall of age of initiating smoking. , 1993, International journal of epidemiology.

[24]  M. Carr-Gregg.  Interaction of public policy advocacy and research in the passage of New Zealand's Smoke-free Environments Act 1990. , 1993, Addiction.

[25]  W. Stanton,et al.  DSM-III-R tobacco dependence and quitting during late adolescence. , 1995, Addictive Behaviours.