Washington: Children of parents who are nicotine addicts are not only more likely to take up cigarettes but also become heavy smokers in their youth, a new study has warned. The findings suggest that parental smoking cessation early in their children's lives is critical to prevent habitual smoking in the next generation.
The study led by Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre is among the first to take a prospective, inter-generational view of the impact a parent's behaviour has on smoking risk for their adolescent offspring.
"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 an assistant professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi.
"It is also important for parents who smoke to know that their children may model the behaviour, particularly if a parent is nicotine dependent," said Mays. Mays said that nicotine dependence is characterised by strong cravings to smoke, needing more nicotine to feel the same effects and feeling discomfort (withdrawal) without the drug.
"Our study supports the need for paediatric clinics to be vigilant about the smoking habits of their patients and their patients' parents," Mays added. "This is one of the most comprehensive analyses of smoking risk in adolescents as it relates to family life," said Raymond Niaura, the study's leader and senior author.
"The findings 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," said Niaura.
More than 400 parents and their participating adolescent children ages 12-17, were interviewed at the beginning of the study with the children interviewed two more times, one year and then five years later.
The study shows that the more years a child was exposed to a parent's nicotine dependent smoking the greater the risk that an adolescent would begin smoking or experimenting with cigarettes. "We believe social learning plays an important role in inter-generational smoking," Mays said. "If social learning is key, then children can also learn from a parent who smokes that it is possible - and wise - to quit," said Mays. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
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