Micro and Macro Causes of Trends in Youth Smoking

描述（由申请人提供） 自20世纪70年代中期以来，青少年吸烟率出现了相当大的波动，先是下降，然后保持稳定，然后再次上升，最近又有所下降。 此外，不同种族和族裔群体的趋势也有显著差异，非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔美国人的下降幅度大于白人。 考虑到吸烟的危害以及青少年吸烟者在未来几十年内继续吸烟的可能性，这种趋势引起了人们的极大兴趣。 然而，研究文献更多的是描述趋势，而不是解释趋势。 尽管有人猜测，促进吸烟的个人特征的变化以及文化规范、社会压力、媒体影响和香烟价格等宏观层面的变化可能会起到什么作用，但对这种说法的检验却很少。 该项目建议通过研究青年吸烟变化的微观和宏观决定因素来扩展现有的关于青年吸烟的文献。 它将考虑微观层面的因素，通过研究吸烟的变化和吸烟的个人层面的决定因素，从1976年至2001年的高中毕业生的调查数据。 它将考虑宏观层面的因素，将调查数据与已公布的关于吸烟总决定因素的数据联系起来，这些数据是针对整个美国青年人口测量的。 在多层次模型中结合微观和宏观层面的数据将允许在两个层面上对解释进行检验。 因此，该项目的目标包括对与烟草使用病因学相关的数据进行二次分析，以及社会经济、种族和文化因素对癌症促进行为的影响。 这些目标进一步反映了主要研究者对癌症控制行为研究的兴趣的变化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Cigarette smoking among youth has shown considerable fluctuation since the mid-1970s, having first fallen, then remained stable, then raised again, and most recently declined. Moreover, the trends differ strikingly across race and ethnic groups, with larger declines occurring among African-Americans and Hispanics than whites. Given the harm of smoking and the likelihood of teen smokers continuing the habit for decades to come, such trends have generated much interest. However, the research literature has done more to describe the trends than to explain them. Despite speculation about the possible role of changes in individual characteristics that promote smoking and of macro-level changes in cultural norms, social strain, media influence, and cigarette prices, tests of such claims are rare. This project proposes to extend the existing literature on youth smoking by examining both micro and macro-level determinants of changes in youth smoking. It will consider micro-level factors by examining changes in smoking and the individual-level determinants of smoking with survey data on high school seniors from 1976-2001. It will consider macro-level factors by linking the survey data to published data on aggregate determinants of smoking that are measured for the U.S. youth population as a whole. Combining the micro and macro-level data in multilevel models will then allow tests of the explanations at both levels. The goals of the project thus involve secondary analysis of data relevant to tobacco use etiology, and the impact of socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural factors on cancer-promoting behavior. The aims further reflect a change in the principal investigator's interests to behavioral research in cancer control.