Smoking May Be a Chain Reaction from Parents to Teens

A recent study found that teens whose parents are smokers are most likely to inherit the same vice, a source told Stevens Point Journal.

The study claimed that teenage kids of parents who quit even before they were born will more likely become smokers compared to those whose parents did not smoke at all.

The researchers of the study told Stevens Point Journal that a sibling who smokes also increases the chances of a person from inheriting the same habit.

Mike Vuolo, assistant professor of sociology at Purdue University told SPJ that their findings imply that any amount of smoking can influence future generations.

He stressed that this especially the case in heavy-smoking households.

Vuolo's co-author, Jeremy Staff, an associate professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University analyzed data from a multigenerational study that followed participants from 1988 until 2011, SPJ reports.

The study focused on 214 participants who are now parents with 314 children in total aged 11 and above.

The results of their study showed four patterns of smoking, a source told SPJ.

Vuolo informed SPJ of their findings and said that in heavy-smoking households, the eldest child is influenced to smoke which results to an increased chance for younger siblings to smoke by up to six times.

Vuolo said that it is therefore important to educate young people that smoking at any point in their lives can also influence their children to do the same. Thus, breaking the cycle or pattern may be deemed necessary, a source informed SPJ.

According to SPJ, the study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.