 Children who have adverse childhood
experiences may be more likely to smoke in adolescence, according to researchers
who also concluded that preventing the experiences could lead to lower
smoking rates in both adolescents and adults. The study, lead by Robert
F. Anda, MD, MS, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(Vol. 282, No. 17).
"Because adverse childhood experiences are common and strongly associated
with smoking initiation, preventing their occurrence and early identification
and treatment of children exposed to them may reduce smoking initiation
among adolescents," wrote the study authors.
The researchers used data from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
Study to determine whether these experiences lead to smoking. They looked
at eight categories of experiences—emotional, physical, and sexual abuse;
having a battered mother, parental separation or divorce; growing up with
a substance-abusing, mentally ill, or incarcerated household member—and
how they related to five categories of smoking—early smoking initiation,
smoking initiation as an adult, ever smoking, current smoking, and heavy
smoking.
A total of 9,215 adults (4,958 women and 4,257 men) responded to a survey
sent to them one week after they had visited a primary care clinic in San
Diego, Calf. The median age for the respondents was 53 for women and 58
for men.
Sixty-three percent of the respondents reported experiencing at least
one of the adverse experiences. "If a respondent was exposed to one of
the adverse childhood experiences, the probability of exposure to any other
category of adverse childhood experiences was increased substantially,"
the researchers wrote. Those who reported five or more of the experiences
had much higher rates of early smoking initiation than those who did not
have any experiences, 5.5 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
"If we can make home environments better, children will be less likely
to smoke and do other drugs. The condition of the home environment relates
to smoking and drugs," said Ron Todd, Tobacco Control Director for the
American Cancer Society. "This [study] is consistent with other studies
done on substance abuse."
He added that attitudes about smoking are formed early in childhood.
"This speaks to the need for comprehensive school health education that
goes from kindergarten through high school," Todd added. "It also speaks
to the need for social and environmental change that limits smoking in
public places, increases the price of cigarettes, and formulates better
youth smoking cessation programs."
ACS News Center stories are provided as a source of cancer-related
news and are not intended to be used as
press releases.
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