Smoking prevention: Can parents influence whether or not their children become smokers?
Whether or not a young person will take up smoking depends on their own attitudes and the influence of others, parents included. Parents’ support and encouragement not to smoke may reduce the likelihood that a young person becomes a smoker. It is very hard to quit smoking once you are addicted. So the best way to prevent smoking-related illness is to prevent people from starting to smoke in the first place. This mainly concerns young people. Most smokers have started smoking by the time they are 18 years old – perhaps as many as 9 out of 10. The World Health Organization found that over 20% of young girls in Europe are regular smokers by the time they are 15 years old. Research has shown several major influences on whether young people start smoking. Some of these relate to the individual young person. A young person with major worries about their weight and figure, for example, might be more likely to start smoking to try to be thinner. Young people who do a lot of sports are less lik
