Children of parents who are nicotine addicts are more likely to become heavy smokers in their youth, a new study finds.
Someone rightly said, "You are but a reflection of your parents." Many studies have highlighted how a mother's eating and lifestyle habits during pregnancy affect her child. A father has a similar influence on how the child grows up. A new study found that a parent's influence on a child doesn't end at infancy.
The study conducted by researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center found that children born in households where one or both parents smoke are not only likely to take up smoking, but also to become heavy smokers by the time they become adolescents.
"It is difficult to dissuade children from smoking if one or both parents are heavily dependent on cigarettes," said the study's lead investigator, Darren Mays, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi in a press release. "It is also important for parents who smoke to know that their children may model the behavior, particularly if a parent is a nicotine-dependent."
The new study is a continuation of a pervious study Mays had conducted earlier where he interviewed 400 parents and their participating adolescent children aged between 12-17 years. The study was conducted over a period of six years. In the first year, the participants were interviewed twice and asked about their smoking habits. A follow-up interview was conducted five years later.
Researchers noted that the longer (more years) children were indirectly exposed to nicotine; the more likely they were to begin smoking at an early age. The study supports earlier suggestions that highlight that parents and adults should be more vigilant about smoking around kids.
"For parents who want to quit, help can be provided," said Raymond Niaura, co-author of the study. "This is one of the most comprehensive analyses of smoking risk in adolescents as it relates to family life. The finding that exposure to parental nicotine-dependence is a critical factor influencing intergenerational transmission of smoking are striking and troubling - but they give us a direction to go in reducing that risk."
Every day, almost 3,900 children under 18 years of age try their first cigarette, according to the American Lungs Association. More than 950 of them become regular daily smokers. Half of them will ultimately die from their habit, the association notes.
The Surgeon General published a few guidelines that can help parents ensure that their children don't take to smoking.
- Set an example by not using tobacco yourself.
- If you use tobacco, you can still make a difference. Your best move, of course, is to try to quit. Meanwhile, don't use tobacco around your children, don't offer it to them, and don't leave it where they can easily get it.
- Talk to your children about the dangers of tobacco.
- Tell your children you expect them to never use tobacco - or if they're already using it to quit.
- Be aware of what your children are doing and who their friends are.
- Network with other parents who can help you encourage children and teens to refuse tobacco.
- Encourage your children's schools to enforce tobacco-free policies.
- Enforce movie age restrictions and discourage teens from playing video games that feature smoking.
The new study was funded by the NIH Transdisciplinary Tobacco Research Center Award and published online in the journal Pediatrics.
