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Teen Anxiety Leads To Smoking, Overeating

Study: Anxiety Rates Higher Than Expected

Posted: 3:30 p.m. EDT July 10, 2002

Is it any surprise that teenagers are anxious and moody?

Perhaps not, but their rates of anxiety appear unexpectedly high, and their anxiety makes them more prone to overeat and smoke, according to a study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine.

The study, one of the first to involve teenagers' use of hand-held computer diaries, found that high rates of anxiety led to more frequent episodes of anger, sadness and fatigue and altered teenage behavior significantly.

The findings, part of a long-term study, may also provide insight into teenage perceptions and moods that may have changed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The study is published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Carol Whalen, professor of psychology, and her colleagues found that teens recorded being anxious in about 45 percent of their computerized diary entries, much higher than expected. This anxiety, which was equal in boys and girls, led to more feelings of unhappiness and low self-esteem. Their anxiety caused them to engage in fewer conversations and recreational activities and to eat and smoke more.

To conduct their research, Whalen and her team issued each of 150 high school students a hand-held computer that contained a software program in which the teens recorded their feelings and behavior during the day. The computers turned out to be popular with the students and provided much greater insight into the adolescent mind than traditional questionnaires and interviews.

"The teens' diaries showed us a much greater incidence of anxiety, but they also revealed behavior patterns that had never been observed before," Whalen said. "We were able to see when this anxiety was experienced, where and with whom.

"This study may help prevent adolescents from starting harmful behaviors like overeating and smoking and may help psychologists and other health care practitioners take better care of their adolescent patients," she said.

Teenagers with the highest levels of anxiety tended to spend more time alone but were less anxious when they did spend time with friends, the researchers found. High-anxiety teens were seven times more likely than low-anxiety teens to report feelings of anger and 11 times more likely to report sadness.

Moderate- and high-anxiety teens were two to three times more likely to smoke, between 70 and 80 percent more likely to drink alcohol and more likely to experience urges to eat. The researchers also found that girls were equally as anxious as boys, which was contrary to other studies on anxiety.

While the more anxious teens were more likely to smoke, it was the less anxious teens who were most likely to experience anxiety while they were smoking.

Whalen and her colleagues continue to study the students' electronic diary entries as they come in. Since the study began in 1998, the researchers are in a good position to determine mood changes in adolescents that may have occurred after Sept. 11. They are now conducting new research on the effects of the Sept. 11 events on adolescents.