Teen Smoking

Teen Smoking
Peer pressure, to availability, to promotion, to the main cause, negative influences. These are some reasons that cause teens to smoke before the age of 18. Peer pressure is one of the most common effects that cause teens to smoke or try something that shouldn’t be tried. Especially when hanging with friends, a lot of teens get pressured into doing things and one of them is smoking. Friends pressure them into smoking and that’s when they try to fit in so they won’t get teased or become ashamed because they didn’t want to try it. Promotion or availability is when teens get influenced by watching adults such as relatives, parents, aunts and uncles smoke. They pick up that vibe where in their mind they are thinking “If they can do that, then why can’t I?” Also when teens watch someone they look up to as a role model, they follow them because they want to be just like them, but one day not realizing they are picking up a bad habit that shouldn’t be followed. Even favorite singers, actors etc., are strong influences on young teens. Availability is another, especially when parents allow their kids to smoke and also giving them the cigarettes to smoke or some go to a gas station and have someone older get a pack of cigarettes for them because of being underage. (Due to peer pressure, 2003) Negative influence is another; it is caused by peer pressure or the wrong peer group, which could be friends with a problem in their life that they would rather not say anything about. So it is their behaviors that is a negative influence for other teens, also their adult family members like their parents, aunties, uncles and cousins. They also can pressure teens to do things that they do, for example: when a teen wants to try something, parents motivate them to try it. That’s when teens have negative influence not only by friends but someone close to you that you would never think would do such a thing like pressuring you into something.
Who? What? When? Where? Why?
During the World War I era, cigars were smoked primarily by the wealthy but when cigar companies had left over tobacco they used them to make cigarettes. Usually the lower class would smoke cigarettes. Eventually they started to mass produce the product and more and more people started to smoke them. After many years the cigarette is still smoked by all classes of citizens all over the world. Cigarettes have actually become a stimulant for most people. Writers, musicians, and painters are just a few examples of people who use cigarettes to isolate themselves in their own world to think of creative ideas. (American Lung Association, 2008)
About 20 to 30 years after World War I doctors started to notice an increase in lung cancer. Nicotine is the ingredient everyone knows in cigarettes but there are many more, many poisonous ingredients. A cigarette consists of about 4,000 dangerous chemicals such as Ammonia, a household cleaner; Angelica root extract, which is known to cause cancer in animals, Arsenic, which is used in rat poisons; Benzene, this is used in making dyes and synthetic rubber; Butane, a gas used in lighter fluid; Carbon Monoxide, which is a poisonous gas; Cadmium, which is used in batteries; Cyanide, a deadly poison; DDT, a banned insecticide; Ethyl Furoate, causes liver damage in animals; Lead, which is poisonous in high doses; Formaldehyde, which is used to preserve dead specimens;
Methoprene, which is an insecticide;
Maltitol, a sweetener for diabetics; Napthalene, an ingredient in mothballs; and Polonium, a cancer-causing radioactive element. The main three components in a cigarette are Nicotine, Carbon Monoxide, and Tar, which all cause disease. (No Smoking Day, 2009)
Effects
Teen smoking is one of the biggest things that happen not only in America, but all over the world. The effects of smoking at such a young age can affect you in the long term because of all the harmful chemicals inside. Just inside one cigarette there are numerous amounts and a variety of types of chemicals. The same chemicals are used in rocket fuel, rat poison, carbon mono-oxide, and many other things that can be harmful and affect you in the long run when you smoke (Quit Smoking Hub, n.d.)
“Cigarettes and more specifically tobacco smoke is full of chemicals and poisons. As you discovered in our chemicals in cigarettes section tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which make smoking harmful.” (Quit Smoking Hub, n.d.) When you start smoking some of these chemicals can affect you later in your life as said in this statement.“One in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age.” (Quit Smoking Hub, n.d.) If teens are very physically active then cigarettes will down grade their performance in what they like or love doing because smoking makes the body work even harder than it did before.
“Smoking hurts young people 's physical fitness in terms of both performance and endurance---even among young people trained in competitive running” (Martin, 2009) At a young age teens are exposed to diseases because of the cigarette or cigarettes that the teens have smoked. Exposing themselves to chemicals at such a young age can affect how their facial appearance is (in person) as they get older. Some of the reasons why some teens are smokers at such a young age is because they have emotional issues or to relieve stress. “In adults, cigarette smoking causes heart disease and stroke. Studies have shown that early signs of these diseases can be found in adolescents who smoke.” (Marin, 2009)
Why should I quit smoking if no one cares?
In 1891 Philip Morris, a tobacco company owner, had his first tobacco company which was located in the United Kingdom. The company took over 35 other different tobacco companies by 2002. In 1981 a tobacco Company (TAC) located in United Kingdom, launched the first tobacco industry youth smoking prevention program. “Campaign for retailer regularly updated until 1989” (Landman, Ling, & Glantz, (2002), page. 924). The tobacco industry was analyzed for the reason why tobacco companies broadcast and developed youth programs for teen smoking. They analyzed tobacco companies to find evidence of whether the programs are effective (on) at reducing the amount of teen smoking or just a waste of time and money. By 1994 Philip Morris took over the management of the program “It’s the Law”. In 1995, Philip Morris, a successful tobacco company made the program a part of actions Against Access Program. Phillip Morris then advertised the action Against Access campaign in areas where legislators are sure to see them and not children. By the end of 1996 Philip Morris then used the presence of the programs ( he) the company established to have a well thought out argument against the government to further the funding of tobacco controls. (Carney, 2007)
Play the role of an adult for these reasons
Sometimes teens adapt a poor coping skill which contributes to the high percentage of teen smoking. Teens who begins to experiment with cigarettes usually are pressured by their peers and turns out being a nicotine addict that he or she would have to battle for the rest of their life. According to the Center for Disease Control, “Almost four thousand kids start to smoke each day more than six million children under 18 years of age will have their lives cut short by a smoking-related illness.”(Carney, 2007, para.1). An average teen who is 15 years of age has a three times (the) higher risk to die from cancer because of smoking than someone who began to smoke in their late twenties. There are those parents who are careless of their children’s future and misunderstand the consequences that may arise when endangering the health of others especially children who are too young to understand why adults smoke. But it shouldn’t take you until you find facts about smoking or for someone else to tell you to stop. As a parent do the right thing and dispose the toxins and stay away from the children when smoking because a child is still being exposed by second hand smoke. “The risk of teens to be in a life-long addiction can lead them to several health problems and death. According to the American Lung Association about one-third of smokers began smoking on the age of 14. The rest of the two-thirds began to smoke on the age of twenty-one.” (Hampton, 2006).

References
American Lung Association (2008). Adolescent Smoking Satistics. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=39868
American Lung Association. (2008). Trends in Tobacco Use. http://www.lungusa.org/atf/cf/%7B7a8d42c2-fcca-4604-8ade-7f5d5e762256%7D/TREND_TOBACCO_JULY_08.PDF (Retrieved January 25, 2009)
Carney, S. (2007, February 6). Teen Tobacco Prevention [How to help Kids resist pressure to Smoke]. Retrieved January 25, 2009 from http://youthdevelopment.suite101.com/article.cfm/teen_tobacco_prevention
Due to peer pressure, Propaganda and Availability(2003).Retrieve January 25, 2009 from http://ondix.com/pdf/docs/high_sample_thesis_addmisssion_1071115767.pdf
Hampton, S. (2006). Prevention of Teenage Smoking in Local Area schools [Psychology 220 (Developmental Psychology)]. Retrieved on January 25, 2009 from http://academic.kellogg.cc.mi.us/talbots/Course%20docs/Psych%20220/Teen%20Smoking%20Prevention.pdf Landman, L.A., Parmela M., & Glantz, S. A. (2002). Tobacco Industry youth Smoking Prevention Programs, Protecting the industry and hurting tobacco control 92(6), 917- 930. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.kstask.org/pdf/LandmanYSP.pdf.
Martin, T. (2009). Global Smoking Statistics for 2002. About.com. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/antismoking/a/statistics.htm
No Smoking Day (2009). What is in a Cigarette?. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk/smokers/whatsinacigarette.htm
Quit Smoking Hub (n.d.). Smoking Statistics in the United States. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.quitsmokinghub.com/smoking_statistics.shtml
Stop Smoking- tips.com (2008) retrieved January 30,2009, from http://www.stop-smoking-tips.com/smoking.html

References: American Lung Association (2008). Adolescent Smoking Satistics. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=39868 American Lung Association Landman, L.A., Parmela M., & Glantz, S. A. (2002). Tobacco Industry youth Smoking Prevention Programs, Protecting the industry and hurting tobacco control 92(6), 917- 930. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.kstask.org/pdf/LandmanYSP.pdf. Martin, T. (2009). Global Smoking Statistics for 2002. About.com. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/antismoking/a/statistics.htm No Smoking Day (2009)