Changes in smoking patterns in young military recruits in relationship to psychosocial characteristics

We followed 295 young infantry recruits during their first 14 weeks of basic training. The prevalence of smoking increased by 50%. About half of this increase was accounted for by ex-smokers, 57% of whom had resumed the habit. Average education and military psychometric measures of both the baseline smokers and the new smokers were significantly lower than those of the abstaining never-smokers. Asian and North African origin and a lower peer group evaluation score were also risk factors. These relationships were not demonstrated among resuming ex-smokers. The rise in the smoking rate accounts for most of the known rise during full military service. We suggest early preventive measures, especially for the two groups at risk.