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June 17 2008
The Benefits of Smoking June 11 2008 Children and Passive Smoking June 05 2008 Brightly colored cigarettes packs are going to be banned May 29 2008 Online tobacco stores give smokers a lot of advantages April 24 2008 Flavored cigarettes could tempt children into smoking April 22 2008 Smoking Hookah is not a risk-free activity April 16 2008 Olympiad re-faces the most smoking nation |
Rural Teens More Likely to Smoke
By Aaron Levin
Rural teenagers smoke more than their city cousins, but a new survey of Iowa seventh-graders suggests that keeping small-town and farm kids from first lighting up may hinge on teaching parents to send anti-smoking messages to their kids."Smoking prevention programs for rural adolescents would teach kids that smoking is not the norm, how to refuse tobacco and other drugs, improve parents' skills and enhance decision-making skills and independent thinking," according to lead author Jennifer A. Epstein, Ph.D., of Cornell University's Weill Medical College in New York. Since most smoking research has focused on city or suburban teenagers, Epstein and her colleagues chose to concentrate on rural youth. They surveyed 1,673 seventh-graders in 22 northeastern Iowa counties, in school districts with enrollments under 1,200 students that had only one middle school. They found that both current and future smoking were more likely if a student believed most adults and peers smoked, Epstein says. Such an environment creates the impression that smoking is attractive or harmless, and that "everyone does it." Although most parents might swear their teenagers never listen to them, research has shown that smoking can be deterred when parents point out the health risks of tobacco, state their opposition to smoking, and articulate their support for their children's choice not to smoke, she says. In summary, says Epstein, her research indicates how rural families, health professionals, and schools might start reducing the smoking rates among rural teenagers. |
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