Recent research shows that alternate tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco and moist snuff), cigars, cigarillos, pipes, bidis (sweet flavored cigarettes from Southeast Asia), and kreteks (clove-flavored cigarettes), are gaining in popularity among youth.
"This trend is dangerous because alternate tobacco products can lead to cancers of the oral cavity and a host of other negative health consequences," said senior author Janet Audrain, PhD, member of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Penn's School of Medicine.
While previous research has shown that both exposure to other smokers and depression increase the likelihood of cigarette use among adolescents, this is one of the first studies to examine the influence that these social and psychological factors have on alternate tobacco product use.
Audrain led a research team that interviewed 1,107 ninth grade students as part of a four-year investigation of the social, psychological and genetic predictors of adolescent smoking adoption. These students completed a survey that assessed current smoking practices, exposure to other smokers, levels of depression, and alternate tobacco product use. Demographic data including age, gender, and race were also collected.
Over eight percent of the teens reported using an alternate tobacco product (smokeless tobacco, cigars, pipes, bidis and/or kreteks) in the last thirty days. Among the eleven perce
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Contact: Olivia Fermano
olivia.fermano@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5653
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
9-Sep-2002