Parental Smoking Influences Teens to Become Heavy Smokers: Study

Children of parents who smoke are more likely to become heavy smokers, according to a study.

 A recent study by the Georgetown Medical Center in Washington D.C found youngsters who are exposed to parental smoking have high chances of turning out to be chain smokers. Experts interviewed nearly 400 participants aged between 12 and 17 during 2001 and 2004 about the smoking behavior of their parents and guardians.

Their analysis revealed four types of smokers in the participants- six percent were early regular smokers, 23 percent early experimenters, 41 percent late experimenters and 30 percent were non-smokers. It was observed that higher the exposure to parental smoking, higher the likelihood of adolescent smoking. It was noted each year of parental smoking would add up the risk of regular smoking in teens.

"Our analysis yielded smoking trajectory classes consistent with previous studies using similar methods, supporting the validity of our findings. An important contribution of our study is the attention to nicotine dependence in identifying adolescent smoking trajectories," said the authors, reports the Medscape.

According to the data by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly nine out of 10 smokers start smoking by 18 and more than 99 percent of the smokers would have picked up the habit by age 26. More than 56 million American children younger than 18, die from illnesses caused by using tobacco and related products.

The researchers urge health care experts and authorities to identify and counsel parents who set an unhealthy example for their children by their uncontrolled smoking and nicotine dependency. They advise care givers and parents to seek medical support and use validated nicotine-dependence screening instruments to get over smoking addiction.

More information is available online in the journal Pediatrics.

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