Topic “Mental and behavioral disorders due to use of tobacco (F17),”

The UCLA, Adolescent Smoking Cessation Center (ASCC) provides a comprehensive research program to investigate the biological factors that contribute to initiation and maintenance of teen smoking and that pose barriers to success in smoking cessation; the goals of this research program include developing and evaluating treatments to promote adolescent smoking cessation. To accomplish these objectives, our program makes use of a unique infrastructure and highly interactive environment for mechanistic studies of teen smoking and smoking cessation at the levels of behavior, neural systems, and genetics. This study is sponsored by Philip Morris USA.

Research

The research projects in the ASCC address 3 primary scientific objectives:

1.  to develop and test treatments for adolescent smokers,
2.  to link function in neural systems that modulate cognition and emotion in adolescent smokers, and  
3.  To clarify the molecular mechanisms by which nicotine affects reward and cognition and assess the extent to which these effects of nicotine lead to long-term dependence.

The chart [to the right] shows that in 2006, over 8 percent of 8th graders, 14 percent of 10th graders and 21 percent of 12th graders had smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days.

Treatment Manual

For Adolescents - Cognitive-Behavioral Motivational Enhancement Therapy for Smoking Cessation Using A Six-Week Intervention. Download (PDF) - by Steven Shoptaw, Ph.D. Keith Heinzerling, MD Aimee-Noelle Swanson, Ph.D., Edythe D London, Ph.D. Todd Zorick, MD James McCracken, MD Joan Asarnow, Ph.D.

Publications

• A Azizian, J Monterosso, J O’Neill, ED London (in press). Magnetic resonance imaging studies of cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence, in Nicotine Psychopharmacology: from Molecule to Behavior, J.E. Henningfield, E.D. London, S, Pogun, eds., Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
• J Xu, A Azizian, J Monterosso, CP Domier, AL Brody, TW Fong, ED London (in press): Gender effects on mood and cigarette craving during early abstinence and resumption of cigarette smoking. Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
• A Azizian, JR Monterosso, AL Brody, SL Simon, ED London (2008): Severity of nicotine dependence moderates performance on perceptual-motor tests of attention. Nicotine Tob Res. 10(4):599-606.
• CP Domier, JR Monterosso, AL Brody, SL Simon, A Mendrek, R Olmstead, ME Jarvik, MS Cohen, ED London (2007): Effects of cigarette smoking and abstinence on Stroop task performance. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 195(1):1-9. J
• Xu, A Mendrek, MS Cohen, J Monterosso, S Simon, M Jarvik, R Olmstead, AL Brody, M Ernst, ED London (2007): Effect of cigarette smoking on prefrontal cortical function on nondeprived smokers performing the Stroop task. Neuropsychopharmacology 32:1421-1428. Epub 2006 Dec 13.

Links

• Youth Smoking Prevention - Parent Resource Center www2.pmusa.com/en/prc/facts/ (Philip Morris USA)