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Lesbian Teens More Likely to Light Up |
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WEDNESDAY, April 7 (HealthDayNews) -- Lesbians and bisexual teenage girls are more likely to smoke than heterosexual girls and, among young Americans, may be among those hardest hit by tobacco, new research reports.
A study in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that lesbian and bisexual girls, ages 12 to 17, were almost 10 times more likely to say they smoke weekly compared to heterosexual girls of the same age.
Nearly 40 percent of lesbian and bisexual girls said they smoked weekly compared to 6 percent of heterosexual girls.
In contrast, the study found that gay and bisexual boys were no more likely to smoke than heterosexual boys.
Lesbian and bisexual girls were also about 60 percent more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to say they'd use tobacco promotional merchandise such as t-shirts, bags, and hats.
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women's Hospital, also in Boston, examined data from the Growing Up Today Study, an ongoing national health study of more than 16,000 adolescents in the United States.
"We were very surprised by the very high rates of smoking by lesbian and bisexual teenage girls," S. Bryn Austin, the study's lead author and a public health expert at Children's Hospital, said in a prepared statement.
"Anti-gay stigma and harassment, rejection from family, friends, peers -- and sometimes even physical violence -- can create a hostile environment for many young people coming to terms with their sexual orientation. This, combined with the tobacco industry's targeted marketing to lesbian and gay communities, is putting lesbian and bisexual girls in harm's way," Austin said.
"We are concerned that these girls may be slipping under the radar screen when it comes to tobacco prevention efforts in schools and communities. More needs to be done to protect these girls and to address the social issues that may lead to their increased tobacco use," Austin said.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about teens and tobacco use.
(SOURCE: Children's Hospital Boston, news release, April 5, 2004)
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