The course of early smoking: A population-based cohort study over three years

Abstract

Aims. To examine the uptake and course of smoking in a representative adolescent cohort. Design. Six-wave cohort study. Participants. Secondary school students initially aged 14-15 years at 44 schools in the state of Victoria, Australia. Measurements. Computerized questionnaire including 7-day retrospective recall for tobacco use. Findings. Prevalence rates for smoking in the past month rose from 25% to 31% and daily smoking 9% to 18% across the 3-year follow-up. Forty-five per cent of the sample smoked at some point but only 18% were daily smokers at the end-point. High rates of short-term cessation were observed for both experimental and daily smokers, but 70% of daily smokers relapsed wit..