The current study examined associations between smoking and body mass index (BMI) utilizing a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 1547). Previous research has shown that smokers have lower BMI than non-smokers; however among smokers, tobacco use is positively associated with BMI. Previous authors have hypothesized this is due to poor behavioral habits among smokers. Building on this, we found that smoking was positively associated with physical inactivity, which mediated the association between tobacco use and BMI. Interpretation, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
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Dvorak et al. (2009) studied this question.
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