Association between elementary school personality and high school smoking and drinking.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Among US high school students, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are associated with numerous concurrent and future harms. We tested whether multiple elementary school personality dispositions to behave impulsively can predict these addictive behaviors invariably across gender and race.

Design and setting

This longitudinal design involved testing whether individual differences on impulsigenic traits in elementary school predicted drinking and smoking 4 years later in high school in 23 public schools in Kentucky, USA.

Participants

A total of 1897 youth, mean age 10.33 at wave 1, drawn from urban, rural and suburban backgrounds.

Measurements

Drinking and smoking frequency were assessed by single-item questions. The key predictors were

SUBMITTER: Peterson SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5633512 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature