Part-time work and cigarette use among teenagers. Does age moderate this relationship?

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies on part-time work and substance use suggest that those teenagers working longer hours during the school year use cigarettes more frequently than those working less or not at all. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether age moderates the relationship between part-time work hours and smoking status. METHODS: This 1999 study consisted of a cross-sectional survey of 4,297 junior high and high school students aged 13 to 19 from 111 randomly selected schools in Ontario. RESULTS: Compared to not working at all,moderate (11 to 20 hours/week) to long (21+ hours) work hours was more strongly associated with the probability of being a smoker among young teenagers (13 to 16 years old). Work intensity was only weakly associated with cigarette use in late adolescence (17 to 19 years old). CONCLUSIONS: Working longer hours during school is associated with cigarette use, particularly among young teenagers. Although these cross-sectional data prohibit any firm conclusions regarding causality, the strong association observed among young teenagers increases the plausibility of early work transition being a risk factor for initiating smoking