Teen Attitudes toward Smoking Linked to Risk for Substance Abuse

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College recently published a study exploring the specific ways that parents and peers may influence teens to smoke, drink and use marijuana.

The results of the study indicate that teens' attitudes toward smoking influence their use of multiple drugs (smoking, drinking and marijuana), and that the influence is different between boys and girls. For girls, those with friends who were ambivalent or permissive of smoking were at greatest risk for using multiple substances. For boys, the greatest predictor of use of multiple substances was the extent to which they perceived that smoking was prevalent in their peer group.

Dr. Jennifer A. Epstein, lead author and assistant professor of public health in the Division of Prevention and Health Behavior at Weill Cornell, commented on the study's findings: "If a teenager feels smoking is socially acceptable and widely practiced, they are much more likely not only to smoke, but to also drink and possibly use marijuana ... While the differences between how boys and girls are influenced by these social factors are subtle, they could help us develop new gender-specific educational tactics for preventing these behaviors."

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: marijuana, teen drinking, teen smoking, teen substance abuse

posted by Aspen Education Group @ 1:38 PM