This explanation of increasing smoking in youth in our society was
published, April 24, 1998, page A4, in the Northwest Arkansas Times.  It
explains the increase in youth smoking as well as increased smoking in our
colleges just reported (Journal of the American Medical Association 1998;
280: 1673).

James Michael Howard
Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.A.

My work suggests human evolution is driven by increased testosterone in our
species.  Male and female humans produce more testosterone than male and
female chimpanzees.  Over time, testosterone will periodically increase in
populations.  This will produce what is called the secular trend, which is
an increase in overall size and earlier onset of puberty.  This is currently
occurring rapidly in the United States.

Therefore, puberty, triggered by testosterone in boys and girls, should
increase the tendency to smoke.  It has been determined that social and
psychological variables are used to explain why young people become
cigarette smokers, whereas biological factors have been virtually ignored as
possible determinants of that behavior.  In this study, salivary
testosterone was positively associated with cigarette smoking among 201
subjects 12-14 years of age. (J Behav Med 1989; 12: 425-433).  Since my
work suggests that testosterone is increasing in this country, this may
explain national news service reports (April 3) of increasing tobacco use by
our youth, despite expensive, concerted attempts to reduce smoking.