Prospective Associations Among Youth Assets in Young Adults and Tobacco Use

Background Developmental assets protect adolescents from tobacco use; however, their influence during the transition to young adulthood is unknown. Purpose To determine the prospective associations among assets and tobacco use in older adolescents and young adults. Methods Prospective analyses were conducted using five waves of annual data collected from 467 randomly selected ethnically diverse youth (baseline age, 15–17 years) from 2003 to 2008. Logistic regression was conducted in 2013 to prospectively examine associations between ten Wave 1 assets with no tobacco use in the past 30 days over the five waves of the study (no use). Assets that were significantly associated with no use were included in a second analysis to examine the cumulative effect of Wave 1 assets on no use. Results Youth who possessed Family Communication, Relationship with Mother, Aspirations for the Future, Parental Monitoring, or Responsible Choices assets had significantly higher odds of no tobacco use. There were significant interactions between Relationship with Father, Non-Parental Adult Role Models, Future Educational Aspirations, and Peer Role Models assets and family structure, gender, or both. There was a significant interaction between cumulative assets and family structure. For youth in two-parent households at Wave 1, those with more assets had significantly greater odds of reporting no tobacco use over five waves compared to those with the fewest assets. Conclusions The influence of assets in adolescents can influence tobacco use into young adulthood. Family structure and gender can influence the asset–tobacco use relationship.