Posted on 06/25/2007 2:35:12 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Study Links Hurricanes to Teen Smokers Jun 25 05:07 PM US/Eastern BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) - Teenagers in a southeast Texas county were more likely to smoke cigarettes if they or their family members were affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita, according to a university study.
The study by the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston surveyed more than 5,100 middle school and high school students in Jefferson County six to nine months after the hurricanes made landfall.
"The physical damage was easy to see, but the psychological damage from the hurricanes was pretty well hidden," said Alfred L. McAlister, a behavioral scientist and an author of the study. "The hurricanes had an emotional impact on the youth and we need to recognize that and give them the help they need. Otherwise, they use tobacco as a crutch and then they become addicted."
Almost 38 percent of students who reported they had a family member hurt or killed in the 2005 hurricanes also reported that they now were smoking, according to the study. In comparison, 13 percent who did not endure a death or injury in the family said they smoked.
Smoking rates were also higher among Jefferson County students whose homes were damaged or destroyed or if they had family or friends with damaged or destroyed homes, according to the study.
Students who still were living in temporary housing and who were absent from school for more than two months due to the hurricanes were two times more likely to smoke than their counterparts.
About 22 percent of American teenagers smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
At the age of 18 months I was in a hurricane on the Texas Gulf coast.
At the age of 16 years I started smoking.
I’m so glad to know that it wasn’t my fault!
Most behavioral scientists should be locked up.
Oh come on. And these idiots are serious!
More grant money is on the way.
Teen smoking causes hurricanes? Headline reader needs remedial course.
It’s those Fema gift cards! Before they didn’t have the money to buy them.
I say here looking at this thread for the punch line.
Maybe we are the fools.
How do we cash in on this grant money?
Anybody else think this number is overstated?
What qualifies as "smoking"?
When I was a teenager I "smoked " for about a month until I realized it was a disgusting nasty habit and quit
I haven't smoked cigs for the next 32 years, but I bet I qualify as a teen smoker
Post 7, typo
say = sat
And in Related news: New Jersey state legislature to consider banning hurricanes in the interest of stopping lung cancer.
So, hurricanes are caused by global warming, then teen smoking causes global warming?
now don’t give them any bright ideas.......
Bushs fault. Bush makes hurricanes which leads to teens smoking, especially black teens because the mysterious famous like Kanye West (mysterious famous meaning nobody can figure out why they are famous) says Bush doesn`t like black people so obviously Bush causes hurricanes in black areas on purpose and therefore teen smoking is his fault.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUzLpO1kxI
Hurricanes caused by Teen Smokers!?
That sounds like some strange and ethereal
"Butterfly Principle."
I can't believe we needed another government funded study to tell us what is intuitive. We all already know that teen smoking causes hurricanes.
I had always suspected hurricanes led to smoking. Now I now.
I didn’t know that. YOU just told me.
Quick Sittin, apply for some of that money!
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