Initiation and maintenance of tobacco smoking: Changing personality correlates in adolescence and young adulthood

Youthful smokers have been described as extroverted and peer-involved, whereas older smokers are often characterized as depressed and withdrawn. Recognizing this contradiction, we examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between smoking and personality and social constructs assessed every 4 years in a sample (N = 461) originally recruited in junior high school. At Time 1, smoking- was positively related to good social relations, extroversion, friends' cigarette use, and cheerfulness. At Times 2-4, smoking was positively related to depression and friends' cigarette use, negatively correlated with good Social Relations, and unrelated to extroversion. Cigarette use was stable over time, but least stable between Times 1 and 2. Findings suggest the instability of early social smoking with peers; those who persist may smoke for tension reduction and self-medication.