Before you take another puff, listen to this. According to a new UK study, a smoking household can only worsen childhood poverty as parents are more likely to spend more funds to the habit.
One of the major goals of the UK is to eliminate poverty that is affecting children for many years. Although experts are less optimistic that this will be realized within the next 5 years, they are working on trying to understand the factors that have been contributing to it so they can put the best controls. In the process, childhood poverty is still going to be lessened.
Thus, for the first time, they embarked on a study that looks into the impact of smoking in relation to childhood poverty. University of Nottingham's Dr. Tessa Langley shares their findings in the recent edition of BMC Public Health.
Based on their survey for the study, of the more than a million children who currently live in the UK, around 500,000 of them are found in low-income households that have at least one parent who puffs. About 400,000 of these children can be classified as in borderline poverty, and they are expected to cross below the threshold should either or worse both of their parents decide to smoke.
In the UK, low-income families earn only £392, so even if the parent chooses to settle for cheaper smoke brands, the habit is still going to place a dent into their income since it is highly possible that at least £50 each week should be set aside for buying cigarettes.
Although the team believe that more studies have to be performed including determining how parents compromise their other needs in order to accommodate smoking, they hope that the government will grab the opportunity the present survey presents-that is, they should begin helping low-income families with smokers to quit.
