Kids Are Smoking Because They Think They're Fat

According to a new NBER working paper, "among teenagers who smoke frequently, 46% of girls and 30% of boys are smoking in part to control their weight. This practice is significantly more common among youths who describe themselves as too fat than those who describe themselves as about the right weight." "Smoking for weight control is particularly common among white girls and those who consider themselves too fat." John Cawley and Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder, the authors of this study, ...