Study Sheds Light on Teen Smoking Addiction

May 24, 2004
A compilation of five years of animal and other studies concludes that teenagers may be more susceptible to the rewarding effects of smoking than adults.

The report, "Closing the Gap on Youth Tobacco Use," analyzed the findings from animal, human, and policy studies conducted by the University of California at Irvine's Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, as well as findings from Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Southern California University, and the University of Wisconsin.

The review identified specific factors that promote tobacco use and addiction among adolescents, including age, changes in the brain from nicotine (which was found to occur in the brains of adolescent rats after one exposure), and failure to feel the negative effects of nicotine as strongly as adults.

"The knowledge gained from working together will help us increase our understanding of how young people can become vulnerable to tobacco and the factors that contribute to tobacco dependence," said Frances Leslie, director of the UC research center and a professor of pharmacology. "We hope that ultimately, our shared research will be applied to tobacco-prevention efforts."

Other major findings include:

• Another chemical in cigarette smoke works with nicotine to produce more rewarding effects in young people than nicotine alone can do. Together, these chemicals can alter the moods, behaviors and thought processes of teens.

• Nicotine causes changes in the adolescent brains of rats after just one exposure.

• Teens with ADHD may turn to smoking as a form of self-medication.

• Programs designed to prevent teen smoking have the greatest positive economic impact of all smoking-cessation efforts.

• People with negative moods or naturally aggressive personalities are more likely to become addicted to nicotine. These “born to smoke” patterns appear in teens and adults.

Tobacco use is one of the nation’s leading health problems, killing more than 430,000 Americans and costing more than $38 billion in taxpayer dollars each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 80 percent of tobacco users started at teens. During these adolescent years, major changes in the brain occur, including those involved with regulating the effects of drugs and other stimuli.

The Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at UCI is one of seven centers in the United States established to study the factors involved with one of the nation’s health crises: teen smoking. Part of its mission is to understand how nicotine, the addictive element of tobacco, impacts this brain maturation and leads to lifelong addiction.

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