Smoking Cessation Health Center

Report Links Teen Smoking, Depression

Teens, Smoking, and Depression continued...

Specifically, adolescents may exhibit more nicotine-driven changes in brain chemistry associated with addiction. Animal studies suggest that teens may become nicotine dependent more quickly than adults.

While most of the research has involved animals, at least one study of teenagers suggests that teen smoking leads to depression, and not the other way around.

The report, released in October 2000, showed a link between smoking and depression, but it seemed to contradict the idea that teens smoke because they are depressed.

Rather, the study showed that current cigarette use was a strong predictor of developing serious symptoms of depression within a year.

Elizabeth Goodman, MD, who led the study team, says the message that smoking has an immediate, detrimental effect on health is a very powerful one for young people to hear.

"When you tell teens that smoking will lead to lung cancer in 50 years or even 30 years, they don't hear it," she tells WebMD. "But telling them that when they smoke it can make them feel bad is a message they understand."

The CASA report calls for greater restrictions on the advertising and marketing of all types of tobacco products.

Califano tells WebMD that tobacco companies have found ways around existing restrictions and are still actively marketing their products to children.

He cites R.J. Reynolds' introduction of a line of flavored cigarettes under the Camel brand -- such as the citrus flavored "Twista Lime" and the pineapple and coconut-flavored "Kauai Kolada" -- as among the most egregious examples of this.

Following complaints from federal lawmakers and attorneys general from no fewer than 40 states, R.J. Reynolds agreed to stop selling most of its flavored cigarettes in October 2006.

"No matter how you cut it, selling candy-flavored cigarettes is targeting children," Califano says. "Things really haven't changed all that much since the days of 'Joe Camel.'"