Testosterone and cigarette smoking in early adolescence

Social and psychological variables are used to explain why young people become cigarette smokers, whereas biological factors have been virtually ignored as possible determinants of that behavior. In this study, salivary testosterone was positively associated with cigarette smoking among 201 subjects 12–14 years of age. This finding suggests that testosterone should be included in future considerations of adolescent cigarette smoking.This research was supported by Grant CA38392 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.