Typically, cigarette use does not peak Wortmannin buy until later adolescence (Jackson, Sher, Cooper, & Wood, 2002); however, early involvement, especially use by age 11�C13 years, has been found to predict substance use and abuse in later adolescence and adulthood (Sung, Erkanli, Angold, & Costello, 2004). Thus, identifying factors associated with early substance use is important for understanding how initiation begins and may be prevented (Foshee et al., 2007). Pubertal timing is one factor found to affect the initiation and prolonged use of substances. In particular, there is a strong association between early pubertal timing and early use of cigarettes for men and women (Bratberg, Nilsen, Holmen, & Vatten, 2007; Dick et al., 2000; Wilson et al., 1994).

Adolescents with early pubertal timing were twice as likely to try cigarettes compared with those who were not early maturers (Westling, Andrews, Hampson, & Peterson, 2008). Similarly, early maturing boys and girls had significantly greater likelihood and higher prevalence of smoking compared with average and late-developing peers (Simon, Wardle, Jarvis, Steggles, & Cartwright, 2003; van Jaarsveld, Fidler, Simon, & Wardle, 2007). Within women, early developers were 2.5 times more likely to have tried cigarettes (Lanza & Collins, 2002) or smoked their first cigarette about 7 months earlier than girls with later puberty (Wilson et al.). Similarly, Tschann et al. (1994) found that 34% of early maturers initiated smoking at younger than 12 years of age. Thus, because girls are beginning to smoke at younger ages and more go on to be regular smokers (Galanti, Rosendahl, Post, & Gilljam, 2001; U.

S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001), particular attention should be paid to the factors associated with early initiation of smoking in adolescent females. Race is also associated with variation in cigarette use. Blacks have lower cigarette initiation rates than Whites (Johnson & Hoffmann, 2000), and the age of smoking onset is significantly later in Blacks than Whites (Geronimus et al., 1993; Harrell, Bangdiwala, Deng, Webb, & Bradley, 1998). Additionally, risk factors for smoking (e.g., family and peer cigarette use, perceived availability of cigarettes) were less prevalent among Black than among White youth, while regular smoking was more prevalent among White than among Black adolescents (Robinson & Klesges, 1997).

Although Blacks Brefeldin_A are at lower risk for cigarette use in adolescence, by adulthood, the smoking prevalence rates are comparable with Whites, yet Blacks have higher lung cancer rates (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1998). Although there is extensive evidence that early pubertal timing is related to early cigarette use and higher rates of smoking, no studies have examined this association for Black adolescents.