The exposure to physical violence need not be a personal assault, it could include witnessing beatings and other forms of body abuses. Such incidents often spurs a young person to start smoking within a year.
Bernard Fuemmeler, pediatric psychologist at Duke University Medical Center, explained, "Survivors of traumatic experiences will say they just want to get back to normal. But for some it's like having a broken leg - you can't just go on and pretend it never happened... You need to get help of there will be bad effects."
The negative effect of witnessing or being a victim of violence lead to other forms of addiction as well such as drinking, drug abuse and gambling, said G. Alan Marlatt, director of the Addictive Behavior Research Center in Seattle.
While the experts agree experimenting with smoking or drinking is a normal adolescent behavior, youths who are undergoing or have undergone stressful experiences and are trying out addictive substances may need help.
Smoking has developed into a youthful vice, with 80 percent of nicotine addicts starting their habit before they reached 18. But by the time they become adults a significant number drop the habit with only 20 percent of adults now still hooked on smoking, half the number compared with 20 years ago.
The results of the Duke University Medical Center's research will come out in the March edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
