HHS HealthBeat (February 18, 2009)

Smoking and parents’ examples

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Smoking can be a family habit. Researchers say teens are more likely to smoke if they see a parent do it.

Stephen Gilman of the Harvard School of Public Health looked at data on 564 teens and on their parents. He found teens were almost three times more likely to try cigarettes if their parents smoked.

Gilman also says that, the younger the child was when his or her parent was smoking, the more likely the child was to start smoking.

But Gilman says having a parent quit smoking also had an effect on the child:

"We found that adolescents were much more likely to smoke if their parents were also smoking, but no more likely to try cigarettes once their parents quit." (6 seconds)

The study in the journal Pediatrics was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February, 18 2009