By Jaime Herndon

Despite all of the information on how harmful smoking is to health, new findings have shown that teens may have some pretty lenient attitudes toward certain smoking behaviors. Two NYU scholars published an article in the journal Pediatrics where they re-analyzed the data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Study. They found that that only one-third of teens surveyed (nearly 25,000) thought that intermittent smoking (described as ‘not daily’) was concerning, and two-thirds believed that light smoking (5 or fewer cigarettes daily) wasn’t a problem. Regular or heavy smoking was seen as a concern for 88 percent of the teens.

Intermittent or light smoking as a teen can lead to heavier, more regular smoking as an adult, so it’s important to let teens know – early, before their teen years – that smoking, in any capacity, is harmful and poses health risks.

Published January 19, 2015
Photo Mister GC