American teens can smoke narghile because "everyone does it"

About 11% of American teens smoke narghile.

People who live with narghile smokers are more likely to do the same. (Reuters pic)

ATLANTA: More than half of American teenagers overestimate the frequency at which their peers smoke hookah, and a new study suggests that it makes them more than nine times more likely to try them- same. Said the lead author of the study, Dr. Israel Agaku, a researcher at the Office of Smoking and Health of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta [19659004]. The pressure, as well as the frequent exposure to pro-tobacco advertising, may lead young people to believe that the hookah is far more common than it actually is, "said Mr. Agaku by email. "The likelihood of young people smoking narghile increases when they believe that" everyone does "even though this perception is inaccurate."

The vast majority of American teens have never tried the narghile .

Although many users think that it is less harmful, hookah tobacco carries the same health risks as smoking, according to the CDC.

Overall, only 11% of students in grades six to twelve have "

But three out of five teenagers overestimate how many of their classmates smoke narghiles, they report in pediatrics.

Young people's perception of the hookah's popularity among their peers was higher than the actual utilization rates of all for the study, the researchers examined the survey data on smoking collected in 2016 from a nationally representative sample of 20,675 adolescents.

Among the minority of participants who had tried narghileh at least once, 66% were former users. Another 26% said that they were currently using the hookah on occasion, and about 8% said they regularly smoked hookahs.

The main predictor of hookah use was to live with a hookah smoker, according to the study. Students in this situation were more than 20 times more likely to use the hookah than youth without a hookah smoker at home.

The consumption of menthol cigarettes was very close. Teens who currently smoked menthol cigarettes were more than 19 times more likely to use the hookah than teens who did not use it. The increased risk of using hookah was also more than 17 times higher among youth who used other types of flavored tobacco products.

Most young hookahs do not frequent hookah bars and restaurants.

In this study, 48% of teens reported using narghile at a friend's home, 31% said they tried home and 21% smoked at a parent's home

. According to Dr. Benjamin Chaffee, a tobacco researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, who did not participate in the study, the use of hookah by teens in public places could be insufficient to solve the problem.

Ages 21 and up are important to prevent youth use, but the high prevalence of narghile at home implies a strong need to communicate with youth, parents, and other family members about wrongdoing hookah.

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how teenagers' social life could have a direct impact on their hookah use. Another limitation of the study is that it only includes young people enrolled in the school.

Nevertheless, the results reflect other research suggesting that adolescents overestimate how much their peers drink and smoke, and that these misperceptions can influence behavior, says Thomas Wills, director of the Pacific Cancer Prevention Program. of the Cancer Center of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu

"Teens tend to think that problematic behaviors are more common than they actually are, partly because the teens discuss use rather than forbearance, and the use is likely to be more visible and impactful than the abstention, "Wills, who did not not participated in the study, said by e-mail