A new UW study looks into reasons why kids smoke.
The purpose of the study was to look at psychosocial risk factors associated with adolescent smoking in Wisconsin. Karen Palmersheim, UW Carbone Cancer Center, Program Director of the Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Program, says they found a number of factors influencing youth smoking.
“Kids who have one or more parents who smoke are twice as likely to be smokers compared to students who do not have a parent who smokes. Another strong factor was having a greater number of close friends that smoke.”