Parents play an important role in preventing children from smoking. The measures taken by the father and mother in relation to children who are addicted to the vicious habit often turn out to be effective. But it is not always easy to suspect that a child has started smoking or vaping.
Scientists have found that parents are much less likely to know that the child uses electronic cigarettes than when he smokes regular cigarettes. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics
About 70% of parents or caregivers know and suspect that their child smokes. At the same time, only 40% of parents know about their child's vaping, scientists have found.
“When parents think about tobacco, they often imagine a cigarette, other products come to their mind less often,” said Dr. Benjamin Chaffee of the University of California at San Francisco, co-author of the study.
But any type of smoking can lead to tobacco addiction. Most vaping liquids contain nicotine, so parents should be on the lookout for that too.
Scientists analyzed data from the Tobacco and Health Population Study. They took information about more than 23 thousand teenagers aged 12-17 years. The study recorded whether each of these teens smoked and which tobacco products they preferred.
The study also showed that parents with lower levels of education were more likely to detect children's smoking, and mothers were more vigilant than fathers. It turned out, in particular, that children from families with strict anti-smoking rules smoke 20-26% less often than the rest of their peers.