Some teenagers reach for a cigarette to cheer themselves up. However, the latest Canadian research indicates that this is not an effective way to alleviate the symptoms of depression, and may even worsen them, informs the journal Addictive Behaviors.
Such conclusions were reached by scientists from the universities of Montreal and Toronto, who analyzed data collected on a group of 662 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. The children came from both rural and urban regions; from rich, moderately rich and poor backgrounds and were French or English-speaking.
All of them completed surveys on smoking and its effect on mood. Young people were divided into three groups: never-smoker; smokers, but not to improve mood or physical well-being, and smokers who have used cigarettes as self-therapy.
To assess the occurrence of depressive symptoms, adolescents were asked how often they felt too tired to do something, had trouble falling asleep or sleeping, felt unhappy, sad or depressed, had no hope for the future, felt nervous or tense, and too often they were worried about all sorts of things.
Our research showed that adolescents who smoked to improve their mood were more likely to develop symptoms of depression than adolescents who never smoked, comments co-author Jennifer O’Loughlin of the University of Montreal.
According to the research leader, Dr. Michael Chaiton from the University of Toronto, although it may seem that smoking has a therapeutic effect in a bad mood, teenagers who started smoking had more severe symptoms of depression after a long period of time. (PAP)