Keeping your teenager away from cigarettes is an important part of the teen-raising-experience, and it’s a tricky challenge. Cigarette smoking is still seen as cool, particularly amongst the young and rebellious for whom medical warnings have little impact. The results of a new study that indicate that teenage smokers who use nicotine to self medicate and manage their moods are more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms over the long term despite the short term mood elevation of the drug make it all the more important, however, to keep your kids smoke free.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Montreal, followed 662 teenagers in grades 7 through 11 over the course of 5 years.
“Smokers who used cigarettes as mood enhancers had higher risks of elevated depressive symptoms than teens who had never smoked,” study coauthor Dr. Jennifer O’Loughlin, a scientist at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center, told AOL Health. Interestingly enough, teens who did not have an expectation that their cigarettes would make them feel better did not experience the increase in depressive symptoms.
“Teens who are depressed are more likely to smoke,” Michael Chaiton, a research associate at the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit of the University of Toronto, told AOL. “Before smoking, those teens who smoked to self-medicate had similar depressive symptoms to other teens but had increased depressive symptoms after they starting smoking.”
Of course, teens who are consciously self medicating with nicotine may be more prone to mood disorders in the first place, but that doesn’t mean that those who are taking up the habit to look cool may not suffer mood altering affects. Talking to your kids about the many affects smoking may have on their lives is just as important as talking to them about sex, alcohol and harder drugs.
