Genetic Associations with Regular Smoking among Adolescents: The Social Environment as a Fundamental Cause

Jason D. Boardman, University of Colorado at Boulder
Brett Haberstick, University of Colorado at Boulder
David Timberlake, University of Colorado at Boulder
Jeffrey Lessem, University of Colorado at Boulder
Marissa Ehringer, University of Colorado at Boulder
Andrew Smolen, University of Colorado at Boulder
Christian Hopfer, University of Colorado at Boulder
John Hewitt, University of Colorado at Boulder

This paper examines the interactive relationship between genetic characteristics and the social environment as a predictor of regular smoking among adolescents. Using a subset of the genetic sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 1,599) in conjunction with information regarding adolescents’ friends, families, schoolmates, we find an association between the number of long alleles from the dopamine transporter gene DAT1 and the likelihood that adolescents will begin smoking regularly between Wave I and Wave II of the study. Our findings suggest that the effect of DAT1 on the risk of smoking is comparable in magnitude to the effects associated with three known risk factors: (1) smoke in the household; (2) smoking among friends; and (3) smoking prevalence at respondents' schools. Equally important, preliminary results suggest that the effects of DAT1 on regular smoking are the strongest among adolescents from non-smoking environments.