The interactive effect of neighborhood peer cigarette use and 5HTTLPR genotype on individual cigarette use.

Abstract

Previous cross-sectional research has shown that adolescents' cigarette use is interactively associated with that of their school peers and their 5HTTLPR genotype, such that the cigarette use of persons with more copies of the 5HTTLPR*S' allele is more dependent on school peers' cigarette use behaviors than their counterparts. This analysis seeks to extend this novel finding by examining whether the same conclusion can be reached when substituting neighborhood peers for school peers and examining the timing of the initiation of any and regular smoking in adolescence.