The effect of attitude on the development of adolescent cigarette use.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relation of attitude toward smoking among never smokers to the growth or development of cigarette use during the adolescent years. Using Latent Growth Modeling, attitude toward smoking of 250 adolescents (48% male, 94% Caucasian), 11 to 15 years of age, who had not previously tried a cigarette, was related to the frequency of use at the next assessment, one year later, and growth in cigarette use across four subsequent years. The results indicated that attitude toward cigarettes significantly predicted both frequency of subsequent cigarette use and growth in use. These results suggest a need to focus prevention efforts on attitude change at an early age, prior to experimentation with cigarette use.