Title
Screening adolescents for nicotine dependence: the Hooked On Nicotine Checklist
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Publication Date
2004-09-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Female; Humans; Male; Massachusetts; Nicotine; Psychometrics; *Questionnaires; Schools; *Self-Assessment; Smoking; Students; Tobacco Use Disorder
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Pediatrics | Preventive Medicine | Primary Care | Psychiatry and Psychology | Psychology | Substance Abuse and Addiction
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the Hooked On Nicotine Checklist's (HONC) internal consistency, reliability over time, correlation with self-described smoking behavior, and to compare the results with previous studies of the onset of nicotine dependence in youths.
METHODS: Ninth-grade students were recruited from a regional school district. Subjects (Ss; n = 371; 91% of the 9th-grade class) were 48.8% male, 97% white, aged 13.8-15.6 years. Ss self-administered a questionnaire on smoking experiences. The HONC was completed by 88 (23.7%) who had puffed on a cigarette at least once; 74 were retested 2 weeks later. Responding "yes" to any of the 10 HONC items indicates nicotine dependence (ND); the number of items endorsed indicates the degree of its severity.
RESULTS: The internal consistency of the HONC is high overall (alpha = 0.90; n = 88), and test-retest reliability for the entire HONC is excellent (intraclass correlation = 0.88, p < .001). Individual items generally showed good to excellent reliability over time (Median Yules' Y = 0.71, range = 0.41-0.82). HONC scores were strongly correlated with self-reported smoking (r = 0.70, p < .001, n = 88).
CONCLUSIONS: Adding the HONC to routine adolescent health examinations, health classes, and prevention programs may make adolescents more aware of their symptoms of ND and enable intervention before ND progresses.
Keywords
Addiction, Nicotine dependence, Tobacco, Youth
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/j.jadohealth.2003.10.004
Source
J Adolesc Health. 2004 Sep;35(3):225-30. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
Related Resources
Repository Citation
Wheeler, Katherine Carter; Fletcher, Kenneth E.; Wellman, Robert J.; and DiFranza, Joseph R., "Screening adolescents for nicotine dependence: the Hooked On Nicotine Checklist" (2004). Family Medicine and Community Health Publications and Presentations. 264.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/fmch_articles/264
