Parents' smoking affects teen behavior
Rima Himelstein, an adolescent medicine specialist at Crozer-Keystone Health System, wrote this for Philly.com's Healthy Kids blog. A 17-year-old has been smoking cigarettes since age 14. She has asthma and frequent respiratory infections, and she knows that smoking is making her worse. She has tried to quit but has given up. She says that her mother also smokes.
Rima Himelstein, an adolescent medicine specialist at Crozer-Keystone Health System, wrote this for Philly.com's Healthy Kids blog.
A 17-year-old has been smoking cigarettes since age 14. She has asthma and frequent respiratory infections, and she knows that smoking is making her worse. She has tried to quit but has given up. She says that her mother also smokes.
I believe most adults know that smoking is harmful. Yet 42.1 million adults (18.1 percent) still do it.
I believe that most teens also know the dangers. Yet one in five now smokes.
How does parents' smoking affect their teens' smoking? In a study in the journal Pediatrics, those whose parents smoked when surveyed were more likely to become smokers themselves within a few years. The more years that their parents smoked, the more likely the teens were to start smoking at an early age and to become heavy smokers.
Recently I met a 15-year-old girl who has been smoking half a pack a day for a year. Here is a transcript of our conversation, starting with me:
"Do you want to quit?"
"No."
"Since you're a cheerleader, have you noticed that it is hard for you to keep up with your teammates?"
"No. I'm the best cheerleader."
"Did you know that smoking causes wrinkles?"
(She had none and wasn't fazed by this.)
"How do you get cigarettes?"
"I wait outside the store and find someone to buy them for me."
"How do you find the time to smoke a half of a pack a day?"
"I smoke before school, at lunch, and after school." (She admitted disliking all of the time that smoking takes.)
"Do you wish that you never started smoking?"
"Yes."
Finally, I was getting somewhere. In fact, 70 percent of teen smokers say they wish they'd never started.
How to get teens to stop? The scary stuff isn't working. So it's time to focus on the positive things that start within minutes of quitting:
20 minutes: Heart rate and blood pressure drop.
12 hours: Carbon monoxide levels in blood become normal.
2 weeks to 3 months: Circulation and lung function increase.
1 to 9 months: Coughing and shortness of breath ease.
1 year: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker's.
5 years: Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and bladder falls by half. Cervical cancer and stroke risks drop to that of a nonsmoker.
10 years: The risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a smoker.
15 years: The risk of heart disease is the same as a nonsmoker's.
My advice? Smoking is an addiction - an illness - not a weakness. So don't beat yourself up about it; Get help.
1. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669), the national number for local services.
2. Sites for free materials: www.smokefree.gov; www.cdc.gov/tips
3. Set a quit date.
4. Remove tobacco products from home, car, and workplace.
5. Resolve not to smoke at all - not even one puff.
6. Anticipate challenges, such as nicotine withdrawal, especially at first.
7. Ask others not to smoke around you.
My plea to smoker parents:
Don't accept smoking in your children just because you smoke. Help them not start. If you wish you never started smoking, tell them why.
Don't smoke in front of your children - not only because the secondhand smoke is also harmful - but to prevent them from learning this behavior. Don't leave ashtrays, cigarettes, or matches out for them to see or take.