Tobacco and Teens
from Lose Weight Reviews

Bad mix of tobacco and teens

Many smokers are already aware of the detrimental effects that smoking has on their health.

However, quitting is often harder than they anticipated and so many continue to smoke. However, if you are a parent of a teenager, new research is suggesting that you should quit now.

When it comes to tobacco and teens, your habits could be influencing their future.

New studies are showing that teens that have parents that smoke are more likely to smoke themselves.

Stronger Effects The Longer They Are Exposed

When it comes to tobacco and teens, teens are more likely to smoke if the exposure to tobacco started at a young age. However, if the parents should quit before they become teenagers that risk drops down again.

While this link has been established, there remain several unknowns. Researchers do not know if mom or dad has a stronger effect or if it is equal. It is also not sure how much smoking at what ages is required to have the negative effect.

The Study

Researchers looked at over 500 teens ages 12 to 17 as well as one parent for each child. Over 62% of the parents had smoked at some time during their lives. 46% of the total number of parents had smoked enough to be considered nicotine dependent at some point during their lives.

When the kids were interviewed, the link between tobacco and teens was definite. Nearly 28% of the participating teens had used cigarettes at some point. The older the kids were, the more likely they had smoked – while only about 7% of the 12 year olds had tried cigarettes, over 61% of the 17 year olds had smoked.

Influences Of Different Parents

According to the study, parents affect on the use of tobacco differently. Mothers affected both sons and daughters equally. Fathers had more of an effect on their sons then their daughters, however if the father did not live at home he did not seem to have an effect.

And when it came to tobacco and teens, the longer a parent had smoked the stronger the influence seemed to be – even if the parent was not actually dependent on nicotine. The younger the children were when their parents smoked, the stronger the effect was.

Other Risks

Parents are not the only risk when it comes to tobacco and teens. The media plays a role, as does each individual's susceptibility to addiction. However, to truly understand why teens are smoking despite the known risk factors it is important to look into the role that parents play.

Once the connection is fully understood, adequate smoking cessation steps can be put into place. If you are a smoker, you should consider quitting for your own health and well being.

However if you are a smoker and a parent, you should consider quitting not only for your own health but for that of your child. You are your child's role model, and if you are not careful your bad habits can become their own.

Trust that you found this tabacco and teens article useful.

Read more diet and weight loss related articles here

More lose weight information