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December 20, 2007Domestic Violence Identified as Stressor Associated with Smoking |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Using a large population survey in India, a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers has found an association between domestic violence and adult smoking. The study appears in the December 11, 2007 issue of the journal Tobacco Control. While the harmful effects of tobacco use are well-documented, there has been little research looking at the stressors associated with tobacco use among Indians. Some 40% of Indian women report being slapped, kicked, hit or beaten during their marriages. The researchers found that, for women who had ever been married, 19% reported incidents of abuse; 85% of abused women reported abuse by their husbands. The study found that women who reported past and current abuse had 20%-40% increased odds of tobacco use compared with women reporting no abuse, even after controlling for factors such as income and education level. Another finding was that smoking risk increased for any adult in households where domestic violence was prevalent, regardless of whether they were personally a victim, a perpetrator or neither. "This is the first study to show a link between domestic violence and tobacco use in a developing country. It is a powerful piece of evidence that we found this same relationship in a place where poverty is endemic that had previously been shown only in wealthy nations," said Ackerson. "This research is important in terms of both tobacco control and the campaign against domestic violence," added Subramanian. More than 300 faculty members are engaged in teaching and training the 900-plus student body in a broad spectrum of disciplines crucial to the health and well being of individuals and populations around the world.
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