A study from from Weill Cornell Medical College suggests that friends' and parents' attitudes toward smoking may influence teens' use of alcohol and other drugs. The study also suggests gender differences in teens' substance abuse decisions:

• Professor Jennifer Epstein and her colleagues surveyed 2,406 sixth and seventh graders in New York City for this study.
• Girls were more influenced to use drugs and alcohol if their immediate peer group held benevolent or permissive attitudes toward smoking.
• If a boy thought that boys his age in general were smoking, he was more likely to use tobacco, drugs and alcohol himself.

"If a teenager feels that smoking is socially acceptable and widely practiced, they are much more likely not only to smoke but to also drink and use marijuana," Dr. Epstein said. "A parent's opinion matters. Moms and dads are critical role models and should let their attitudes against drug use be known."

This study appeared in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, drug use, influences, smoking, teens

Why do some teenagers start smoking? Why do some become heavy smokers? Researchers from the University of Montreal set out to find the answers to these questions.

• Dr. Jennifer O’Loughlin and her colleagues studied 877 students for five years starting when they were 13-years old.
  
• None of the children were smoking at the beginning of the study.
  
• By the time participants were 18 years old, 48 percent were smoking.
  
• Among the smoking group, 21 percent of the teens were smoking every day.

Dr. O’Loughlin's research team drew the following conclusions from their research:

• Children from single-family homes and those who perform poorly in school are at increased risk of becoming smokers.
  
• Having parents, teachers, siblings, and/or friends who smoke increase their risk by two or three times.
  
• Teenagers who felt stressed, and had trouble controlling their impulses were also more likely to smoke.

Some factors that did not increase the risk for teen smoking included gender, parents’ education, depression, worries about weight, excessive risk taking, involvement in sports, and television watching.

The study appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Labels: research, smoking, teenagers, tobacco use

Babies who are exposed to tobacco smoke prenatally or as infants are more likely to become hooked on cigarettes in early adulthood, according to a new study from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Roni Grad, a professor of pediatrics, assessed children during their mothers' pregnancies, at 1.5 months, at 1.5 years, and again at ages six, nine, 11, 16, and 22 years old. If mothers smoked during pregnancy or early childhood, their children were more likely to be smokers at ages 16 and 22 years old. Fathers' smoking habits did not matter.

"I would definitely discourage any mother from smoking around her child," Dr. Grad said at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society. "If they were exposed early, I would go the extra mile to keep them from experimenting because they may be at higher risk of becoming nicotine dependent very quickly."

Teen smoking has been associated with a wide range of health and behavioral problems, including the development of anxiety disorders.

Labels: anxiety, parents, smoking

The dangers of smoking have been known for years. But a recent report filed by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has found that smoking is especially dangerous for adolescents.

"CASA's original analysis of data from the NDSUH [National Survey on Drug Use and Health] finds that teens who smoke are nine times likelier to meet the medical criteria for past year alcohol abuse or dependence and 13 times likelier to meet the medical criteria for abuse and dependence on an illegal drug than teens who don't smoke."

The study also found that teens ages 12 to 17 are twice as likely to suffer from symptoms of depression if they smoke. Feelings of anxiety and worthlessness were also more likely.

Labels: health_problems, risky_behaviors, smoking

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

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco have found that smoking cigarettes during the first six to nine months of recovery may interfere with an alcoholic's overall success.

"Corresponding study author Timothy C. Durazzo, of the University of California San Francisco, says non-smoking alcoholics showed a significantly greater level of recovery than smoking alcoholics in the areas of mental efficiency; higher-level reasoning and problem-solving; visual-spatial processing skills and working on short-term memory."

The mortality rate for cigarette smoking is also four times that of the mortality rate relate to alcohol-induced diseases. Read more at EarthTimes.org.

Recovery is a life-long process and requires commitment, introspection, and most importantly, courage. Learn more about Recovery Support at www.drugrehabtreatment.com.

Labels: alcohol, recovery, smoking

Hookah smoking is a current fad among American young people with new cafes and bars appearing near college campuses every month. However, a report from the American Lung Association indicates that the usual 45-minute hookah smoke is the equivalent of 100 cigarettes.

The smoke from these water pipes also has higher levels of carbon monoxide: 1.4% compared to 0.4% in cigarettes. The flavored tobacco is linked to oral, lung and bladder cancer.

Thomas Carr, national policy manager for the ALA, said that research indicates adolescents who use hookah tobacco are more likely to "graduate" to cigarette smoking.

Labels: fads, smoking, teenagers

Smokers who underwent intensive, structured treatment were much more likely to quit the habit than those left on their own, a new study finds.

Researchers at Creighton University Cardiac Center in Omaha, NB, worked with 209 heart patients. They divided them into two groups. Both groups got thirty minutes of anti-smoking counseling and self-help materials. However, one group also underwent three months of behavior modification therapy and took free drugs tailored to their needs, such as nicotine smoking patches or ibuprofen.

Two years later, almost 40% of the group receiving structured treatment had quit smoking, compared to 9% of those who had no interventions.

This study appears in the February 2007 issue of CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Labels: smoking, treatment

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