Teenagers whose fathers have "one on one conversations" with them are less likely to take up smoking, according to a new study from the Cardiff University School of Medicine.

• Dr. James Rice and his colleagues followed 3,500 children ages 11 to 15 years old, who were part of a three-year study called the British Youth Panel Survey.
  
• At the beginning of the study, none of the participants were smokers.
  
• Three years later, Dr. White found that teens who had regular talks with their fathers were less likely to smoke, after eliminating factors such as arguments with family members, how often the family ate meals together, and so forth.

"This study suggests that a greater awareness of parents' and especially fathers' potential impact upon their teenagers' choices about whether to smoke is needed," said Dr. White, presenting the research before the British Psychological Society's annual conference. "The impact of teenage parenting is relatively un-researched and further research is very much needed."

Labels: tobacco use, smoking

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

Researchers at Baylor University have found an association between exposure to nicotine during adolescence and difficulty withdrawing from alcohol as an adult.

• Dr. Jim Diaz-Granados and his colleagues exposed some laboratory animals to nicotine, some to alcohol and nicotine, and others just to salt solutions when they were "teenagers."
• When the animals became adults, all were exposed to alcohol.
  
• Then the researchers monitored their withdrawal symptoms from alcohol.
  
• The ones were exposed to nicotine only had the most severe symptoms; the other two groups experienced about the same level of severity of symptoms.

Dr. Diaz-Granados believes that his study "provides evidence that the developing adolescent brain is susceptible to the actions of nicotine and the effects of early exposure can result in changes seen in adulthood." One effect might be increased alcohol withdrawal-related hyperexcitability.

The study appeared in the journal Alcohol.

Labels: tobacco use, smoking, withdrawal

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

According to a Feb. 4 article by Michael Felberbaum of the Miami Herald, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is concerned that a new type of smokeless tobacco products may be attractive to teenagers and young adults, and could lead to increases in tobacco use and addiction among young people:

The FDA's Center for Tobacco Products wrote to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes, and the smaller Star Scientific Inc. on Monday voicing concern over smokeless products that are consumed like breath mints but made from finely milled tobacco.

"CTP is concerned that children and adolescents may find dissolvable tobacco products particularly appealing, given the brightly colored packaging, candy-like appearance and easily concealable size of many of these products," Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the Center for Tobacco Products, told the companies.

Deyton said regulators are worried the products' nicotine content and rapid dissolution could cause nicotine dependence and addiction and be especially dangerous to children and young adults.

Labels: tobacco use

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

Minority boys who smoke are more likely to light up when they think they are being victimized by discrimination, according to a new study from Indiana University. The same does not hold true for minority girls.

Researchers studied 2,561 black and Latino teenagers, of which 12 percent were smokers.

"Boys and girls may experience discrimination differently due to where they spend their time, and that may account for the differences in whether discrimination was associated with increased smoking. The context of discrimination matters," according to the report, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Labels: tobacco use, boys, discrimination

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

A new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 70 percent of teenagers believe smoking one or more packs of cigarettes a day poses a health risk.

"But when they were asked about binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks once or twice a week, only 40 percent thought there was a major risk," the report's authors wrote. "Only 32 percent of those asked believed smoking marijuana once a month posed a major risk."

The results were based on survey responses from nearly 50,000 adolescents and teenagers (ages 12 to 17).

Labels: tobacco use, dangers-of-drug-use

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

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 OLoughlin 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. OLoughlin'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: tobacco use, smoking, teenagers, research

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 1 Comment

There is yet another reason for parents to be on the lookout for teen alcohol use and other dangerous behaviors. Migraine headaches are more common among teenagers who drink coffee or alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or do not get much exercise, according to a new study from Ludwig-Maximilians University in Germany.

• Astrid Milde-Busch surveyed 1260 students ages 14 to 20 years old about headaches.
• Over 80 percent had experienced a headache within the past six months, but they were more common among those who drink coffee or alcohol, smoke cigarettes and/or do not exercise.
• About 5 15 percent of high school students have migraines, and 15 to 25 percent have tension headaches.
• Skipping meals was not associated with headaches.

"Our study confirms that adolescents with any type of headache might benefit from regular physical activity and low consumption of alcoholic drinks," Dr. Milde-Busch says. "In teens suffering from migraine, low coffee consumption should also be suggested."

The study appeared in the journal Headache.
 

Labels: tobacco use, health_problems, alcohol, caffeine

Posted By: Adolescent Substance Abuse 0 Comments

A four-year study of 1246 middle school children found that even one cigarette a month can lead to addiction.

Dr. Joseph DiFranza of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center found that two-thirds of the children in the study who had tried cigarettes smoked at least once a month. Half of them experienced symptoms of cravings and dependence when they tried to quit.

• Dr. DiFranza said his study found that after two years, one-third of the students who had tried cigarettes had little control over their habit.
• As time went by, they were likely to smoke cigarettes more often, and became irritable and experienced difficulty concentrating when they were deprived of nicotine.
• After three years, one in four students who tried to stop smoking experienced withdrawal symptoms.

This study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.
 

Labels: tobacco use, addiction, middle_school, cigarettes

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments