Cigarettes have long been associated with lung problems, but new research suggests mental side effects for adolescent smokers, as well. 

The ongoing Nicotine Dependence in Teens study at the University of Montreal and the University of Toronto discovered cigarette smoking may increase symptoms of depression in adolescents in the long term.  

‘One of the reasons we are interested in depression is because it is one of the reasons teens start smoking in the first place,’ said Michael Chaiton, head author of the study and researcher at the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit of the University of Toronto. 

Chaiton said he became interested in studying adolescents because it coincided with the onset of smoking. Some adolescents are new smokers, while others began in elementary school, Chaiton said.  

‘We have followed kids before and after they started smoking in order to understand the onset of these conditions and to find a window for intervention,’ he said. 

Researchers Chaiton, Joanna Cohen and Juergen Rehm of the University of Toronto and Jennifer O’Loughlin of the University of Montreal have been following a group of 650 high school teenagers since 1999, focusing on the number of teens in that group who specifically used cigarettes to self-medicate. 

The groups were divided into categories of never smokers, smokers who did not use cigarettes to improve mood or physical state and smokers who used cigarettes to self-medicate or improve mood, Chaiton said. The groups were tested for a range of symptoms common with depression, including hopelessness about the future and trouble falling asleep.  

‘The addictive phenomenon that occurs with cigarette smoking increases stress in one’s life over time,’ Chaiton said. ‘We found that people who are reporting that they find cigarettes help them are particularly susceptible to depressive symptoms after.’

Depression is not related to smoking alone, he said. Activity and diet also play a role. 

Although many use smoking as a mood enhancer or social activity, smoking will not make an adolescent’s problems disappear, he said. And it is the addictive quality of smoking that can lead to depression or make pre-existing problems worse. 

‘A substance like tobacco gives them an element of control over their mood and stress level,’ Chaiton said. ‘In a way, tobacco does work in terms of keeping someone on the same trajectory, but what it doesn’t do is that it doesn’t solve problems.’

Caitlin Virga, a senior psychology and biology major, said stress and the expectation for self-medication and mood enhancement makes cigarettes attractive. She said she typically smokes after drinking alcohol or dealing with stress, and should cigarettes become unavailable, it would change her mood for the worse. 

‘If it comes to a point later on in the night where cigarettes aren’t available to me, I will crave them and it will affect my mood negatively,’ Virga said. 

Treating a smoking habit is a secondary case in the study, Chaiton said. The main focus is depression and the onset smoking habits that worsen over time and predict future depressive symptoms.  

For those interested in quitting, Chaiton said dealing with both substance addiction and depression would be more difficult. Health problems associated with smoking become alleviated once one quits, he said. 

‘It makes it harder to deal with depression when you have a substance addiction,’ Chaiton said. ‘What we are seeing in this study is that when a person quits cigarettes after an initial withdrawal, their mood improves significantly.’

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Published on September 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm