Teen smokers will find it harder to quit when they’re older

Those who began smoking when they were a teenager or child are less likely to give up their habit as adults, and the harder they will find to quit by the age of forty. The hypothesis arose from survey data that revealed the initial age people, from the US, Finland and Australia, began smoking and related it to their current behaviours.

Researchers analysed 6600 participant’s smoking habits when they were below 20, in their 20s and their 40s. The results revealed that 50% of the participants began to smoke when they were 6-12. Furthermore, 48% of those started at ages 13-14, 33% started at ages 15-17, and 8% started at ages 18-19.

The results were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The Mayo Professor of public health in the division of epidemiology and community health, University of Minnesota and Study lead, David Jacobs Jr, stated: “Even in low income and developing countries, the societal reinforcement of smoking, the basic addictive qualities of nicotine and the maturation of children and children’s judgment through adolescence are universal. As children mature through adolescence, they may have developed a better ability to resist impulses and to reject social pressures. Cigarette smoking is an avoidable health risk, and its seeds are in childhood.”