If a teen's first cigarette is a relaxing experience, he or she is more likely to become addicted to smoking.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School recently completed a four-year study of 1246 sixth-graders to find out why some teenagers get addicted to cigarettes and others do not.

"It is how the brain reacts to nicotine, rather than personality traits," according to Dr. Joseph DiFranza, lead author of the study.

The study appears in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Labels: brain_chemistry, cigarettes, smoking

A recent study at Washington University School of Medicine has found a link between teenage smoking and alcoholism. The study included three groups ranging in age from 12 to 20, and found that smokers had more than a 50 percent increased risk for alcoholism.

"Younger smokers in the 12- to 14-year-old age group were 28.4 percent more susceptible to developing an alcohol problem later, compared with 4.2 percent for nonsmokers, although both reported having one to eight drinks in the past month."

The study polled over 74,000 households with adolescents and young adults, as part of the U.S. National Surveys on Drug Use and Health.

Read more online.

Labels: addiction, cigarettes, smoking