Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Nov;97(11):2056-62.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.094045. Epub 2007 Sep 27.

The effect of working for pay on adolescent tobacco use

Rajeev Ramchand  1 , Nicholas S Ialongo, Howard D Chilcoat
Affiliations

The effect of working for pay on adolescent tobacco use

Rajeev Ramchand et al. Am J Public Health. 2007 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated the links between working for pay and adolescent tobacco use to determine whether working for pay increases smoking risk.

Methods: We performed retrospective and prospective analyses using data from a cohort of 799 predominantly African American students in Baltimore, Md, who had been followed since the first grade.

Results: At the 10th year of follow-up, when the adolescents were aged 14 to 18 years, there was a positive relationship between the time they spent working for pay and current tobacco use. This relationship was attenuated somewhat after adjustment for potential selection effects. Adolescents who spent more than 10 hours per week working for pay also tended to initiate tobacco use earlier than did their peers. Among adolescents who had not yet used tobacco, those who started to work 1 year after assessment and those who worked over 2 consecutive assessments had an elevated risk of initiating use relative to adolescents who did not start working.

Conclusions: There is a strong link between working for pay and adolescent tobacco use. Policymakers should monitor the conditions under which young people work to help minimize young workers' tobacco use and potential for initiating use.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Kaplan–Meier failure estimates of age of first use of tobacco, by year-10 work intensity: Prevention and Intervention Research Center Study, Baltimore, Md, 1993–2004
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2000.
    1. Grunbaum JA, Kann L, Kinchen S, et al. Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2003. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2004;53:1–96. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette use among high school students—United States, 1991–2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004; 53:499–502. - PubMed
    1. Resnick MD, Bearman PS, Blum RW, et al. Protecting adolescents from harm. Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. JAMA. 1997;278:823–832. - PubMed
    1. Bachman JG, Schulenberg J. How part-time work intensity relates to drug use, problem behavior, time use, and satisfaction among high school seniors: are these consequences or merely correlates. Dev Psychol. 1993;29:220–235.

Publication types

MeSH terms