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  • Title: Childhood social disadvantage and smoking in adulthood: results of a 25-year longitudinal study.
    Author: Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Boden JM, Jenkin G.
    Journal: Addiction; 2007 Mar; 102(3):475-82. PubMed ID: 17298656.
    Abstract:
    AIM: To examine the associations between exposure to socio-economic disadvantage in childhood and smoking in adulthood. DESIGN: A 25-year longitudinal study of the health, development and adjustment of a birth cohort of 1265 New Zealand children. MEASUREMENTS: Assessments of childhood socio-economic disadvantage, smoking in adulthood and potential mediating pathways, including: parental education, family socio-economic status, family living standards and family income; smoking frequency and nicotine dependence at age 25 years; child IQ, educational achievement by age 18 years, conduct problems ages 14-16 years, parental smoking 0-16 years and peer smoking at 16 years. FINDINGS: Smoking at age 25 was correlated significantly (P < 0.0001) with increasing childhood socio-economic disadvantage. Further, indicators of childhood socio-economic disadvantage were correlated significantly (P < 0.0001) with the intervening variables of childhood intelligence, school achievement, conduct problems and exposure to parental and peer smoking; which in turn were correlated significantly (P < 0.0001) with measures of smoking at age 25. Structural equation modelling suggested that the linkages between the latent factor of childhood disadvantage and later smoking were explained largely by a series of pathways involving cognitive/educational factors, adolescent behavioural adjustment and exposure to parental and peer smoking. CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggested that smoking in adulthood is influenced by childhood socio-economic disadvantage via the mediating pathways of cognitive/educational factors, adolescent behaviour and parental and peer smoking.
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