Purpose: To examine the relation between dieting and smoking initiation among adolescents.
Design: Prospective data from a nationally representative study were used.
Setting: Two waves (1994 to 1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Subjects: The sample included 7795 non-Latino Caucasian and non-Latino African-American adolescents.
Measures: Dieting status was the independent variable and trying smoking and initiation of regular smoking were the dependent variables. Covariates included age, ethnicity, overweight status, false self-perception about being overweight, and availability of cigarettes at home.
Analysis: Logistic regression and latent transition analyses were used.
Results: Females had a higher prevalence of dieting (55%) when compared with males (25%). Dieting initiation was a significant predictor for initiation of regular smoking among females (OR = 1.94, p = .010), but not among males. Inactive dieting was a significant predictor among males (OR = 1.74, p = .031), but not among females. Compared to nondieters, initiating and consistent female dieters reported a higher probability of transitioning to having tried regular smoking, although results from logistic regression suggested that the association between consistent dieting and initiation of regular smoking was not significant.
Conclusions: There is a positive relation between initiating dieting and initiating regular smoking among females, but among males it is the inactive dieters who show a positive relationship. Results illustrate the importance of examining the association between dieting and the initiation of regular smoking.