What do I need to know about kids and tobacco use?

• Nearly all long-term smokers begin before age 19. 
• Although only five percent of daily smokers surveyed in high school said they would definitely be smoking five years later, close to 75 percent were smoking 7 to 9 years later [1] .
• If one or both parents smoke, kids have at least twice the risk of becoming regular smokers by high school graduation.
• Teenage smoking is linked to breast cancer
• More Facts about Child and Teen Tobacco Use

How can I keep my kids from smoking?

Prevention is the way to go.  The younger a child begins to smoke, the more likely they are to become an adult smoker.  Here are some tips:

• Be the person you want your children to become.  If you smoke, quit.
• Find out more about quitting and second hand smoke.
• If you can’t quit, don’t despair: Research [2] [3]  suggests that smokers have a better likelihood of raising kids who don’t smoke if they take part in an anti-smoking program with their children.  So even if you smoke, make that your motivation to take an even more active role in talking to your kids about smoking, peer pressure, advertising, and your own experiences and regrets.  Use the resources listed on this page.
• The brochure A guide to youth smoking prevention policies and programs has good ideas for the effective messages you want to convey to your child when you talk about smoking.  The messages that work best might not be what you would think!
• Don’t use the prevention programs put out by tobacco companies.  They send a weak message, mislead, and fail to implement proven strategies for prevention [4].  For more information, read the peer-reviewed research article:  Tobacco Industry Youth Smoking Prevention Programs:  Protecting the Industry and Hurting Tobacco Control.
• Do educate your child about tobacco industry manipulation and deception.  Teens want to exercise their free will and rebel against something.  Point out how the tobacco industry tries to hook them on a habit that is very hard to break.  Point out the dishonesty of the industry.  These are some of the strategies that have proven most effective in reducing teen smoking rates and in mobilizing young tobacco control advocates. [5] [6] [7]
• Here’s a webpage with information on the deceptions of the industry that you can share with your teen:  International Tobacco Accountability Bulletin.
• Since viewing smoking in movies increases teen smoking [8] [9], watch movies with your kids and when you see smoking, use it as a way to start conversations about tobacco and the tobacco industry. 
• Use the Smoke Screeners educational program with your 11- to 14-year-old child to help them learn to see subtle media messages about smoking.
• Smoking and teens has info for teens.
• Also for teens:  Smokeless Tobacco
• Here is an article to read with your child about how tobacco ads target kids and teens.  It includes discussion points and activities.  This is another great way to spark a discussion.

How can I help my child quit using tobacco?

• Kids and Smoking includes tips on signs you child has started smoking, and what to do if your child smokes.
• Quitting Smokeless Tobacco
• You can also use the quitting resources and stop-smoking classes listed above on this page.
• CDC resources for/about young people:
• I QUIT—What to do when you’re sick of smoking, chewing or dipping is a booklet for young people that give tips for how to quit.
• Tobacco-free sports—a CDC initiative.
• Youth Tobacco Prevention from the CDC.

Where can I find more information?

• Read the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on environmental tobacco smoke.
• Growing Up Tobacco Free:  Preventing Nicotine Addiction in Children and Youths, Barbara S. Lynch and Richard J. Bonnie, Editors, a 1994 publication of the National Academy Press, is available to read online. 
• YourChild:  Second-Hand Smoke (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) and Smoking During Pregnancy

What are some organizations and governmental agencies that address second-hand smoke and youth tobacco use?

• The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids works to reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences in the United States and around the world.  By changing public attitudes and public policies on tobacco, they aim to prevent kids from smoking, help smokers quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke.
• American Cancer Society:  What’s so bad about tobacco?
• American Lung Association:  Tobacco Control
• National Cancer Institute:  Tobacco and Cancer
• Tabaco: Información en español
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Smoke-Free Homes and Cars Program
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):  Smoking and Tobacco Use
• CDC en Español:  Tabaquismo
• Smoke-Free Movies from the University of California, San Francisco aims to reduce the amount of on-screen smoking in movies.

Literature Cited:
[1] U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, press release dated 23 August 1996.  Children’s future at risk from epidemic of tobacco use.  Accessed 8 September 2003.  Available at:  URL:   http://www.os.dhhs.gov/news/press/1996pres/960823d.html
[2] Jackson C, Dickinson D. Can parents who smoke socialise their children against smoking? Results from the Smoke-free Kids intervention trial.  Tob Control. 2003 Mar;12(1):52-9.
[3] Jackson C, Dickinson D. Enabling parents who smoke to prevent their children from initiating smoking: results from a 3-year intervention evaluation. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006 Jan;160(1):56-62.
[4] Landman A, Ling PM, Glantz SA.  Tobacco industry youth smoking prevention programs:  protecting the industry and hurting tobacco control.  Am J Public Health. 2002;92:917-930.
[5] Swartz W. A guide to youth smoking prevention policies and programs.  ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education.  Avaiable at URL http://iume.tc.columbia.edu/eric_archive/parent/17.pdf.  Accessed 13 August 2004.
[6] Goldman LK, Glantz SA.  Evaluation of antismoking advertising campaigns. JAMA.  1998;279:772-777.
[7] Healton, C. Who’s afraid of the truth?  Am J Public Health. 2001;91:554-558.
[8] Dalton MA, Sargent JD, Beach ML, Titus-Ernstoff L, Gibson JJ, Ahrens MB, Tickle JJ, Heatherton TF. Effect of viewing smoking in movies on adolescent smoking initiation: a cohort study.  Lancet. 2003 Jul 26;362(9380):281-5.
[9] Charlesworth A, Glantz SA. Smoking in the movies increases adolescent smoking: a review. Pediatrics. 2005 Dec;116(6):1516-28.

Written and compiled by Kyla Boyse, R.N.  Reviewed by faculty and staff at the University of Michigan.

Updated May 2008

Our editorial policy
The information and links we provide are reviewed by University of Michigan developmental and behavioral pediatricians and child psychologists who are experts in child behavioral health. In choosing the links we provide, we use strict criteria to ensure that the information is accurate, and the source is reputable. As much as possible, we focus on information that is based on research. In areas where there is inadequate research, we include information compatible with prevailing expert opinion.

This website is updated regularly, but because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, we cannot be responsible for misinformation that may be accessed through the links provided. As always, this website is not a tool for self-diagnosis, and is not a substitute for professional care.

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