title: Young woman smokers gain significantly more weight over 2-year follow-up than non-smokers. How Virginia doesn't slim.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although young women often report smoking for weight control purposes, no prospective study has tested whether smokers subsequently gain less weight over time than non-smokers. As this is an important lacuna because smoking results in greater mortality than obesity, the present study addresses this question.
  
  
  METHODS
  Female college students (N = 398; M age = 18.4, SD =0.6; M BMI = 23.7, SD =4.3) recruited for a body acceptance intervention trial provided data on smoking behavior and had their body mass measured at baseline and at 1-mo, 6-mo, 1-yr, and 2-yr follow-ups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Counter to the belief that smoking is an effective weight control strategy, baseline smokers (n = 29) gained significantly more weight (r = .29) than baseline non-smokers (n = 304), controlling for baseline BMI, parental obesity status, socio-economic status, and intervention condition; over 2-yr follow-up smokers gained 2.9 kg versus 0.9 kg for non-smokers. Descriptive data indicated that weight gain was greater for young women who quit smoking during follow-up (n = 13; M = 4.8 kg) than for persistent smokers (n = 16; M = 1.4 kg), though both groups gained more weight than non-smokers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RESULTS challenge the widely held belief that smoking is an effective weight control strategy, ironically suggesting that smokers gain more weight than non-smokers during young adulthood, though non-experimental prospective studies do not establish causal relations and future research with larger representative samples is needed.
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Drive, Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States. Electronic address: estice@ori.org.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stice
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Drive, Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States.
authors.forename: C Nathan
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Marti
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Drive, Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rohde
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Drive, Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014768:Virginia; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Smoking; Smoking cessation; Weight gain; Young adults