Adolescent Same-Sex and Both-Sex Romantic Attractions and Relationships: Implications for Smoking

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) 2008-03, Vol.98 (3), p.462-467
• Main Authors: Easton, Alyssa, Jackson, Kat, Mowery, Paul, Comeau, Dawn, Sell, Randall
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Age Factors; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Children & youth; Cross-Sectional Studies; Education; Ethnicity; Family income; Female; Gays & lesbians; Girls; Health Behavior; Heterosexuality; Homophobia; Homosexuality; Humans; Loneliness; Longitudinal studies; Love; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Missing data; Personal relationships; Polls & surveys; Prevalence; Prospective Studies; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Research and Practice; Risk Factors; Risk-Taking; Same sex marriage; Sexes; Sexual Behavior; Sexual orientation; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Students; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Tobacco Use Disorder - epidemiology; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; United States - epidemiology; Young adults
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.097980

We examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between smoking and romantic attractions and relationships. We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to assess associations of smoking at Waves I and II with same-sex, both-sex, and opposite-sex romantic attractions or relationships as determined at Wave I. We used logistic regression to predict smoking at Wave II by sexual orientation. Both adolescent boys and adolescent girls with both-sex attractions or relationships were significantly more likely than those with opposite-sex attractions or relationships to be current smokers. Adolescent boys and girls with both-sex attractions or relationships who were nonsmokers at Wave I were more likely to be current smokers at Wave II than those with opposite-sex attractions or relationships. Our findings support previous research on smoking among youths who report same-sex or both-sex romantic attractions or relationships and demonstrate the increased risk bisexual youths have for smoking initiation and smoking prevalence. Tobacco use prevention programs targeting gay and bisexual youths are warranted, particularly among adolescent girls and boys who have had both-sex romantic attractions or relationships.