Abstract
This study looked at the effect of school achievement as an independent predictor of child and adolescent smoking, when a large number of other measures relating to family background, attitudes to smoking, exposure to smoking and self-esteem were taken into account. After the effect of these other variables were controlled for, academic achievement was not related to smoking at age 9 but was related to change in smoking for age 9 to 11 years and, for boys, further change in smoking from age 11 to age 13 years.