Kids who participate in youth sports are less likely to become smokers, according to research from Dartmouth Medical School published in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. But kids who see smoking portrayed in movies have an increased risk of taking up cigarettes, whether or not they play sports.
"Movie smoking exposure appears to increase the risk of smoking initiation by enhancing adolescents' perceived benefits of smoking and making them more susceptible to peer influences," write the study's authors.
Aside from signing up your child for a sport, you can help cut his risk of starting to smoke by limiting screen time and monitoring his media choices carefully--and of course, modeling healthy habits yourself.
