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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.101212v1 97/8/1444    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marcus, S. E. Articles by Brook, J. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marcus, S. E. Articles by Brook, J. S. Related Collections Adolescent Health African Americans/Blacks Smoking Cessation

Stephen E. Marcus, PhD, Kerstin Pahl, PhD, Yuming Ning, PhD and Judith S. Brook, EdD

Stephen Marcus is with the National Cancer Institute, Washington, DC. Kerstin Pahl, Yuming Ning, and Judith Brook are with the Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Stephen E. Marcus, PhD, Tobacco Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza North, Rm 4046, Rockville, MD 20852 (e-mail: marcusst{at}mail.nih.gov).

Objectives. We examined the pathways to smoking cessation between late adolescence and young adulthood.

Methods. We obtained data from a sample of urban African American and Puerto Rican young adults (N=242), mean age 19 years, who reported tobacco use and determined cessation rates between late adolescence and young adulthood. We used structural equation modeling to examine the pathways of positive family relations, family smoking, maladaptive personality attributes, and substance use to smoking cessation.

Results. A mediational pathway linked the absence of positive family relations with maladaptive personality attributes, both of which were related to substance use and ultimately smoking cessation. Substance use mediated the path between family smoking and smoking cessation.

Conclusions. The results suggest that a positive relationship with one’s parents, less smoking in the family, conventional personality attributes, and little or no other substance use facilitate smoking cessation among young adults.