Parents have role in smoking prevention

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/aaop-phr042711.php

Public release date: 2-May-2011
Contact: Susan Martin
American Academy of Pediatrics
Adolescents are less likely to start smoking if they feel connected to their parents, face consequences for lighting up

DENVER – Parents shouldn't let up when it comes to discouraging their kids from smoking.

That's the message of a study to be presented Monday, May 2, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver.

Previous research has shown that parents can deter adolescents from smoking by monitoring them and enforcing anti-smoking practices at home. Researchers, led by E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, sought to determine if family factors continue to protect adolescents as they grow older and whether these factors affect youths of varying racial/ethnic backgrounds differently.

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