Objective: To examine the influences of disease, lifestyle, and other factors on adolescent medical providers' willingness to recommend genetic susceptibility testing (GST).
Method: Providers attending a national conference completed a self-report survey (n = 232) about their willingness to recommend hypothetical GSTs, differentiated by disease (nicotine addiction/lung cancer), patient lifestyle (nonsmoker/smoker), and other contextual factors.
Results: Compared to recommending GST unconditionally, providers were more willing to recommend GST with parental/patient consent/assent, and in the presence of a preexisting illness and substance abuse history. Compared to offering nicotine addiction GST to a nonsmoker, providers were more willing to offer this type of testing to a smoker and were more willing to offer GST for lung cancer regardless of patient lifestyle.
Conclusions: Providers' willingness to recommend GSTs is sensitive to many factors. Efforts to integrate GST into adolescent preventive care likely will need to address these and other influences on provider behavior.