Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Criminology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Scand J Psychol. 2021 Apr;62(2):211-216. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12699. Epub 2020 Dec 3.
Levels of smoking and smoking initiation have been found to increase during the transition to adulthood. Symptoms of depression and anxiety may both precede or follow smoking behavior, yet there is equivocal evidence regarding the direction of this relationship. The aim of the current study was to examine the direction of this relationship in a group of young adult backpackers who traveled to social environments which are permissive of smoking. The current study involved a quasi-experimental design examining 199 (52% men, mean age 24.27, SD = 1.05 years at time 1) young adults, before, during and following a backpacking experience of at least six months. Regression analyses was used to examine the association between smoking and symptoms of depression and anxiety over time. Relative to smoking levels before the journey, a significant transient increase in smoking was found during the journey. The increase in smoking during the journey predicted increases in both depressive and anxiety symptoms following the journey. The reverse direction models were not significant. Our study suggests that social contexts which are permissive of smoking, such as backpacking, increase young adult smoking behavior. Mood symptoms did not contribute to the observed increase in smoking behavior but, inversely, increases in smoking contributed to heightened mood symptoms. Additional longitudinal studies are needed to explore the role that smoking behavior plays in young adults' mental health.
吸烟和吸烟开始的水平被发现会在成年过渡期间增加。抑郁和焦虑的症状可能都先于或紧随吸烟行为，但关于这种关系的方向存在矛盾的证据。本研究的目的是在一组前往允许吸烟的社交环境的年轻成年背包客中检查这种关系的方向。本研究采用准实验设计，在至少六个月的背包旅行之前、期间和之后，对 199 名（52%为男性，平均年龄为 24.27 岁，标准差为 1.05 岁）年轻人进行了检查。回归分析用于检查随时间推移吸烟与抑郁和焦虑症状之间的关联。与旅行前的吸烟水平相比，在旅行期间发现吸烟显著增加。旅行期间吸烟的增加预测了旅行后的抑郁和焦虑症状的增加。相反方向的模型没有显著意义。我们的研究表明，允许吸烟的社交环境，如背包旅行，会增加年轻成年人的吸烟行为。情绪症状并没有导致观察到的吸烟行为增加，但相反，吸烟的增加导致情绪症状加重。需要进一步的纵向研究来探讨吸烟行为在年轻人心理健康中的作用。
