According to a new national survey, married women are more likely to have sexual difficulties than either single women or married men.

Women were significantly more likely than men to say that they had experienced a short or longer term problem with their sex lives over the past year. And married women were significantly more likely to report a problem with their sex lives than single women, as were mothers with young children at home.

The study also revealed the importance of good communication. Men and women who felt they could not talk to their partner about sex were around twice as likely to report problems with their sex lives.

As many as 54% of women and 35% of men have problems, but fewer than 11% of men and 21% of women seek help.

The study is published in the latest issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

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Twelve-year-olds whose parents smoked were more than two times as likely to begin smoking cigarettes on a daily basis between the ages of 13 and 21 as were children whose parents didn't use tobacco.

That’s according to new research out of the University of Washington.

Other elements that influenced whether or not adolescents began daily smoking were consistent family monitoring and parents not involving children in their own smoking behavior. Parents who ask their children to get a pack of cigarettes from the car or have them light a cigarette for the parent are setting the stage for their children taking up smoking also.

Bottom line: it’s a matter of “Do as I do” not “Do as I say”.

The authors argue that smoking prevention programs need components focused on parents, not just the teens.

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Another study concerning smoking:

Older women who have smoked the lifetime equivalent of a pack a day for at least 11 years – face a 30 percent to 40 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer as compared to women who've never smoked.

The researchers found that long-term smokers who add combination hormone-replacement therapy (estrogen plus progestin) to the mix more than double their odds of getting breast cancer compared to those who never smoked.

An increased risk of breast cancer was seen in women who were current or long-term smokers, women who started smoking at a younger age and also women who started smoking before their first full-term birth.

Pregnancy does provide protection to the breast tissue.

The breast cells are less susceptible to carcinogens because they become more mature, or differentiated, cells. Breast cells in women who have never given birth are less differentiated—less mature-- and therefore may be more vulnerable to damage by carcinogens, like the toxins in cigarettes.

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