SEATTLE, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A Seattle study finds one of the best things smokers can do for their children is quit.
A team from the University of Washington who tracked children and teens in a low-income Seattle neighborhood found 12-year-olds with smoking parents were more than twice as likely as other children to start smoking between the ages of 13 and 21.
Karl Hill, director of the university's Seattle Social Development Project, said whether or not parents smoke is by far the most important factor in family behavior. Children with strong family ties, consistent monitoring and rules and parents who did not involve them in smoking by asking them to light cigarettes or fetch them were also less likely to smoke.
The study also found gender and racial differences in smoking behavior. Men were somewhat more likely than women to start smoking by 21, and whites more likely to become smokers than blacks, Hispanics or Asians. But the group with the highest smoking rate was Asian Indians.
