Cigarette use, psychological distress, and obesity are major health threats to society. If effective prevention programs are to be designed, the origins of these behaviors and their relation to one another must be understood. The proposed study will investigate the relationships between cigarette use, psychological distress, subjective rating of health, coping, physical activity, and obesity within and across four developmental periods: early adolescence, late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and early adulthood. Subjects are currently a cohort of 551 adults (interim sample) in two mid-western states, being followed annually every year since 1984. All data are self-reported. Data will be analyzed both cross- sectionally and longitudinally using multiple regressions, piecewise modeling, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Previous research has focused primarily on these relationships either in adolescence or adulthood and the course of relationships spanning multiple developmental periods is not well understood. Findings from this study have important implications for designing future prevention programs for both psychological distress and obesity, that link or incorporate understanding of cigarette use.
| Riggs, Nathaniel R; Chou, Chih-Ping; Pentz, Mary Ann (2009) Protecting against intergenerational problem behavior: mediational effects of prevented marijuana use on second-generation parent-child relationships and child impulsivity. Drug Alcohol Depend 100:153-60 |
| Jasuja, Guneet Kaur; Chou, Chih-Ping; Riggs, Nathaniel R et al. (2008) Early cigarette use and psychological distress as predictors of obesity risk in adulthood. Nicotine Tob Res 10:325-35 |
