Monday, April 13, 2009 7:37 PM CDT
Parents should start early encouraging kids not to smoke, experts advise
By DAWN SCHABBING, Features Writer
dschabbing@jg-tc.com
Parents can play a key role when their teenage children begin experimenting with smoking.
Research by health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, shows that young people whose parents talk to them regularly about not smoking are more likely not to start.
Even tobacco companies like Philip Morris USA say if parents talk to their children about the harmful effects of smoking, they will listen.
After a several-year decrease, the percentage of adolescent smokers has leveled off in recent years, said Jim Slavik, associate professor in the Eastern Illinois University School of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Slavik estimated about 17 to 18 percent of adolescents are smokers today.
Many young people now manage to get the products from older siblings or parents, purchase them illegally, or have a friend purchase smokes for them.
According to the 2008 Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System’s “I Sing the Body Electric” survey of East Central Illinois teens, the age when more local young people first are exposed to tobacco is between 13 and 14.
The survey numbers are in sync with Slavik’s estimate of area adolescents who use tobacco, showing it is at an all-time low, 17.7 percent. But this rate is still higher than the national average of 14.2 percent, the survey results revealed.
The “Body Electric” survey shows that a perception of disapproval by their parents and peers helps determine if they choose to smoke.
“We see that 70.2 percent of youth know their parents would feel that it is ‘very wrong’ for (the teen) to smoke,” the survey results show. In another question, 66.2 percent said there would be little chance that smoking is seen as “cool.”
However, that number has gone down from 76.5 percent in a 2006 survey.
Philip Morris USA campaigns against youth smoking, saying it is because the tobacco company knows that tobacco shouldn’t be in the hands of young people.
Strict guidelines against smoking in public places, higher taxes on the tobacco products and age requirements in Illinois to purchase tobacco would seem to be a deterrent, but studies show young people still manage to smoke.
“The average or typical age when adolescents first try or experiment with smoking is 13 to 14 years of age. However, most do not continue. There is generally a two-year lag as to becoming a ‘regular’ smoker, say around age 16-17,” Slavik said.
Slavik said recent education information addresses all forms of tobacco/nicotine use, including smokeless tobacco.
“We see more of this (smokeless tobacco) use in the rural areas such as here in central Illinois. The chewing tobacco or ‘dip’ is now in these convenient little pre-packaged packs or pouches for consumption,” he said.
Philip Morris USA offered these facts to help parents with kids who might be prone to using tobacco:
n The younger people are when they start smoking, the more likely they are to become long-term addicts.
n Teens and pre-teens who smoke are more susceptible to respiratory illnesses.
n Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S.
n Smoking is a major cause of heart disease, emphysema and stroke. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.
For more information and helpful tips about how to talk to a child about tobacco use, visit online at http://www2.philipmorrisusa.com/en/prc/activities/downloadresources.asp;
http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/smoking.html; or http://www.singthebodyelectric.org/downloadforms/Body_Electric_2008.pdf.
Contact Dawn Schabbing at dschabbing@jg-tc.com or 238-6864.
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61938 wrote on Apr 13, 2009 7:03 AM: