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New Study: Puffing Even 1 Cigarette in Childhood Increases Odds of Future Smoking [11/02-1]
Excerpts from: Report: Puffing Even One Cigarette in Childhood Dramatically Increases Odds of
Future Smoking
US Newswire [11/01/04]
Seemingly insubstantial increases in the number of cigarettes kids smoke
translate into big increases in the probability of habitual smoking by late
adolescence, according to a report today in the November issue of Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The study, which followed smoking habits from third grade through high school, shows that kids who smoked only one cigarette by 5th grade were nearly twice as likely to be current smokers at age 17 than those who never smoked as children. Those who smoked two to four cigarettes by 5th grade were three times more likely to smoke daily later in life. Kids who smoked more than five cigarettes were four times more likely to become daily smokers.
Entitled "Cigarette consumption during childhood and persistence of smoking through adolescence," the research report was authored by Christine Jackson, Ph.D., senior research scientist at the Chapel Hill Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.
Approximately 600 children from a school district in central North Carolina were surveyed about their tobacco use for three years beginning in 1993, and then again in 2002.
"It surprised us that relatively small increases in cigarettes smoked during childhood predicted such large differences in the odds of habitual smoking eight years on," Jackson said. "Our research suggests that any cigarette use during childhood makes a big difference in future smoking, which in turn can mean serious health consequences later in life."
These findings underscore the critical importance of reducing children's access to tobacco, Jackson said. Children most frequently obtain their first few cigarettes from their own family members or friends' family members. More research and program development are needed on prevention of such social access to cigarettes by children, she said.
This tobacco-use study is the first to measure cigarette use annually during childhood and follow a group of young people through teen-age years. Other studies on childhood initiation of smoking are based on asking teen-agers about their tobacco use as children. Jackson's research showed that such recollections had a high likelihood of false reporting.
"Because we interviewed the same group of young people when they were children and again when they were adolescents, we could test how well adolescents can recall whether and when they smoked during childhood," Jackson said. "We found that about 80 percent of adolescents who tried smoking during childhood didn't remember starting so young. This is important because many researchers use recall data from adolescents to test whether early smoking experience is harmful over the long term."
click here to view the abstract of this study
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