Attention and adolescent tobacco use: A potential self-regulatory dynamic underlying nicotine addiction

Examines the covariation of attention processes in childhood and adolescence with tobacco use in middle adolescence, controlling for both comorbid antisocial behavior and psychosocial risk. Childhood ratings of inattention increased the risk of early-onset smoking (odds ratio = 4.12). During adolescence, high performance on an attention task was associated with increased risk (odds ratio = 2.07) for patterned tobacco use after controlling for antisocial behavior and known psychosocial risk factors. These analyses suggest a possible regulatory dynamic linking patterned tobacco use and inattention. Given the role of attention in the regulation of negative affect, it is possible that tobacco use among vulnerable youth results in enhanced sense of well-being, compared to less vulnerable youth. Future research requires repeated assessments of attention, affective states and tobacco use to clarify issues of temporal ordering.