Family smokers 'encourage young'
Updated on 13 November 2008
Young people are more strongly influenced to start smoking by family members with a habit than they are by peer pressure, research revealed.
An 11-year study into young people's attitudes towards smoking found that 99% of regular young smokers lived with at least one smoker, while less than 15% said they had ever felt under pressure to take up cigarettes.
Children aged 12 to 16 were 44% more likely to start smoking if a member of their household did.
The study also found that young smokers were much more likely to live in poorer areas. Fourteen to 16-year-olds living in an area of high deprivation were 95% more likely to try smoking.
The research, carried out by Liverpool John Moores University for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, tracked 250 children from the age of five to 16.
The results will enable health authorities to better target their anti-smoking campaigns, the Foundation said.
Chief executive Dr Rosemary Gillespie said: "The process of becoming a smoker begins very early in childhood and is primarily influenced by exposure to smoke in the home.
"The findings provide us with a vital insight into how young people become smokers and will enable us to continue to develop and implement effective smoking prevention and health education programmes."
Helping parents to stop smoking was the key to preventing their children from taking up cigarettes, she argued.
"The Government needs to apportion its efforts to support parents to stop smoking," she said. "The evidence shows that many people want to stop smoking but they need the support to do that."
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