MINNEAPOLIS, February 20, 2008—A Duke University study suggests that childhood abuse or exposure to physical violence greatly increases the chances of starting to smoke by their early 20s.

Psychologists Bernard Fuemmeler and Miguel Roberts followed more than 15,000 young people from age 15 to 22. They found a strong link between childhood sexual or physical abuse and regular smoking that begins in the teen years. 

Either seeing it or being the victim of a physical assault nearly doubled the odds of a youth starting to smoke within a year. 

The report will be published in the March issue of Journal of Adolescent Health.

USA Today story