Cigarette smoking and solvent use among Japanese adolescents

To examine the relationship between cigarette smoking and solvent use among Japanese adolescents, epidemiologic data from a survey of 4433 junior high school students were analyzed. For both males and females, the frequency of cigarette smoking was positively associated with curiosity about solvent use, the perception of closeness to solvent users and the lifetime and past-year prevalence rates of solvent use. On the other hand, the frequency of smoking was negatively associated with the endorsement of the current Japanese law which maintains the illegality of solvent use. These results are reported for the first time from epidemiologic-based data among early adolescents in Japan. Although correlational, they suggest the role of cigarette smoking for Japanese adolescents in the initiation of other illicit drug use in these age groups.