Kids learn early to choose tobacco and wine, study finds

CHICAGO - Children as young as two are influenced by whether their parents smoke and drink alcohol, researchers said this week.

In a study of 2 to 6-year-olds, children who were told to "shop" for groceries for a doll were four times more likely to choose cigarettes if their parents smoked and three times more likely to pick wine or beer if their parents drank at least once a month.

Children who viewed PG-13 or R-rated movies were five times as likely to choose wine or beer. Of the 120 children in the study, 28 per cent bought cigarettes and 62 per cent purchased alcohol.

"Children's play behaviour suggests that they are highly attentive to the use and enjoyment of alcohol and tobacco and have well-established expectations about how cigarettes and alcohol fit into social settings," wrote Madeline Dalton of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

"Several children were also aware of cigarette brands, as illustrated by the 6-year-old boy who was able to identify the brand of cigarettes as Marlboros but could not identify the brand of his favourite cereal as Lucky Charms," Dalton wrote in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

- REUTERS