adults (based primarily on withdrawal) may be inappropriate during adolescence, when nicotine withdrawal does not appear to play a major role in nicotine use.39 Furthermore, treatment strategies involving nicotine replacement may be harmful for adolescents because it may cause enhanced vulnerability to nicotine dependence later in adulthood. Adolescents that initiate tobacco abuse are more vulnerable to long-term nicotine dependence. A unifying hypothesis has been proposed based on animal studies, and it suggests that adolescents (as compared to adults) experience enhanced short-term positive effects and reduced adverse effects toward nicotine, and they also experience fewer negative effects during nicotine withdrawal.39 Thus, during adolescence, the strong positive effects associated with nicotine are inadequately balanced by the negative effects that contribute to nicotine dependence in adults.
