Young Smokers on Fast Track for Behavior Problems

Adolescents who have tried cigarettes by seventh grade are much more likely to become regular smokers and have behavior problems as teens, a new study finds. "We were struck by the degree to which early smoking appeared to indicate that kids were on the fast track toward a troubled adolescence," said Phyllis Ellickson, Ph.D., who led the team of researchers at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif. "We wanted to find out what factors in early and later adolescence might help these high-risk kids avoid negative consequences." See more at: http://www.cfah.org/hbns/getDocument.cfm?documentID=1772