Elsevier

Journal of Adolescence

Volume 22, Issue 5, October 1999, Pages 657-672
Journal of Adolescence

Regular Article
Why may teenage girls persist in smoking?

https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.1999.0261Get rights and content

Abstract

Teenage girls often smoke cigarettes, recognizing that it protects them from the impulse to binge eat with its feared weight-gain consequences. Evidence is marshalled from our studies of a female eating-disordered population, teenage females (London, U.K. and Ottawa, Canada) and middle-aged women (London and rural England) in the general population. Teenage female data analysis reveals links between smoking and body-weight/shape concerns. Those who smoked were likely to be moderately overweight. Smoking was also related at all ages to being postmenarchal. Sensitivity to shape is largely and qualitatively prompted by the development of body fat in puberty. Smoking by the London schoolgirls in particular also independently revealed an association with greater weight loss since puberty. Smoking was powerfully linked with vomiting undertaken as another defence against weight gain and may also be further reinforced as a behaviour by it. The eating-disordered population showed these latter associations most strikingly. Since smoking amongst older women is associated with below average body-weight it may indeed be effective in curbing weight gain and therefore promoting desired weight loss. Our studies provide little evidence of association between smoking and generalized or social anxiety. We propose that preventative psychological approaches to teenage female smoking should include attention to these matters.

References (38)

  • A.H. Crisp

    Some psychopathological aspects of obesity

  • A.H. Crisp et al.

    Psychoneurotic profiles in middle age. A study of persons aged 40–65 registered with a general practitioner

    British Journal of Psychiatry

    (1971)
  • A.H. Crisp et al.

    Jolly fat. The relation between obesity and psychoneurosis in the general population

    British Medical Journal

    (1976)
  • A.H. Crisp et al.

    Smoking and pursuit of thinness in schoolgirls in London and Ottawa

    Postgraduate Medical Journal

    (1998)
  • S. Crown et al.

    Manual of the Crown-Crisp Experiential Index

    (1979)
  • J. Foulds et al.

    Counting the costs of children's smoking

    British Medical Journal

    (1995)
  • D. Garner et al.

    Manual for Eating Disorder Inventory

    (1984)
  • J.W. Grube et al.

    Beliefs related to cigarette smoking amongst Irish college students

    International Journal of Addiction

    (1986)
  • Cited by (60)

    • Smoking status and psychosocial factors in binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa

      2016, Eating Behaviors
      Citation Excerpt :

      Although widespread public health campaigns and policies have helped to decrease the prevalence of smoking in the United States, currently 18.1% of US adults smoke cigarettes (Agaku, King, Dube, & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Though smoking is driven by multiple factors, some of the most common reasons that people smoke are the perceived impact of cigarettes on weight, eating, and mood (Crisp, Sedgwick, Halek, Joughin, & Humphrey, 1999). Nicotine suppresses appetite (Jo, Talmage, & Role, 2002) and decreases food intake (Donny, Caggiula, Weaver, Levin, & Sved, 2011; Mineur et al., 2011) through mechanisms that are not fully understood but are likely a result of both physiological and behavioral factors (Audrain-McGovern & Benowitz, 2011).

    • Does Cigarette Use Influence Adiposity or Height in Adolescence?

      2008, Annals of Epidemiology
      Citation Excerpt :

      In a recent study (26), nicotine was associated with a decreased level of growth hormone in smokers (particularly in female smokers), and this could represent a possible pathophysiologic mechanism underlying the impact of active smoking on growth in youth. Given that most industrialized countries are in the midst of an obesity epidemic (27, 28) and that some adolescents may view cigarette smoking as a weight-control strategy (29–31), it is important to better understand the association between smoking and indicators of growth and adiposity in young persons. We used data from a longitudinal cohort study to investigate whether cigarette use affects height and/or adiposity among adolescents.

    • Effects of adolescent nicotine and SR 147778 (Surinabant) administration on food intake, somatic growth and metabolic parameters in rats

      2008, Neuropharmacology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Female sex hormones and the development of body fat in puberty may play an important role in this effect. It is worth mentioning that gender differences in emotional responses to nicotine have been also reported in both animal and human studies (Crisp et al., 1999; Perkins et al., 1999; File et al., 2001; Marco et al., 2006; Guillon et al., 2007). During the last years, an important body of evidence has emerged involving the endocannabinoid in the regulation of appetite, eating behaviour and body weight.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    f1

    Reprint requests and correspondence should be addressed to Professor A. H. Crisp, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Medicine, Psychiatric Research Unit, Atkinson Morley's Hospital, 31 Copse Hill, London SW200NE, U.K.

    View full text