Teens here in Syracuse are often victims of the mass marketing appeal of cigarettes and peer pressure which often leads them to begin smoking. And so more and more reports about the direct link between smoking and lung cancer are always welcomed by the Syracuse community with hopes these reports will convince teens not to smoke. And now evidence that smoking may also be associated with an increase in depressive symptoms may also help convince teens here not to smoke. An article in Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com, titled "Smoking Can Increase Depressive Symptoms in Teens, Study Finds" has reported that while some teenagers may smoke cigarettes to 'self-medicate' against the blues, scientists at the University of Toronto and the University of Montreal have discovered that smoking may actually increase depressive symptoms in some adolescents. This study has also been published in the journal Addictive Behaviors under the title of " Use of cigarettes to improve affect and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal study of adolescents."
The lead author of this study, Michael Chaiton, a research associate at the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit of the University of Toronto, has said "This observational study is one of the few to examine the perceived emotional benefits of smoking among adolescents. Although cigarettes may appear to have self-medicating effects or to improve mood, in the long term we found teens who started to smoke reported higher depressive symptoms."
In this study 662 high school teenagers completed up to 20 questionnaires from grades 7 to 11 dealing with their use of cigarettes to affect mood. The secondary schools which were selected were chosen to provide a mix of French and English participants, urban and rural schools, and schools located in high, moderate and low socioeconomic neighbourhoods.
The participants were divided into three groups: never smokers; smokers who did not use cigarettes to self-medicate, improve mood or physical state; smokers who used cigarettes to self-medicate. Depressive symptoms were measured in this study with a scale that asked how often the participants felt too tired to do things; had trouble going to sleep or staying asleep; felt unhappy, sad, or depressed; felt hopeless about the future; felt nervous or tense; and worried too much about things.
Coauthor Jennifer O'Loughlin, a professor at the University of Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and scientist at the of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, has commented "Smokers who used cigarettes as mood enhancers had higher risks of elevated depressive symptoms than teens who had never smoked. Our study found that adolescent smokers who reported emotional benefits from smoking are at higher risk of developing depressive symptoms."
The association between depression and smoking was found to exist primarily among teens that used cigarettes to feel better. Dr. Chaiton has said "It's important to emphasize that depressive symptom scores were higher among teenagers who reported emotional benefits from smoking after they began to smoke."
Teens here in Syracuse should learn from this study that aside from the association between smoking and lung cancer there may also be an association between teen smoking and depression. This should encourage teens here to stay away from smoking. And parents and teachers here in Syracuse should help reinforce this information for teens here in order to encourage them to lead smoke free healthy lives.
Mandel News Service: http://www.mandelnews.com
