Teens have been known to follow what they see like if their parents drink they are more likely to try drinking earlier than if their parents did not drink. Well it also boils down to seeing their parents and peers smoking cigarettes. It does happen. When a teen begins to smoke, they believe they are being portrayed as older and more wiser because they are smoking. The differences between the subjective feelings of adult who smoke than teens who smoke are far more apparent especially in behavioral aspects.
"The American Lung Association estimates that every minute four thousand eight hundred teens will take their first drag off a cigarette."
"Research has proven the fact that nicotine has the ability to suppress feelings, suppress appetite for food, is used as stimulation after sex, and is a good way to relax from troubles and feelings of insecurities." I can agree with the research because I began smoking at a young age and the more I read this attached article the more and more the research has proven in my life when I smoked in high school. These are examples that I have either experienced or have witness my follow peers who smoked cigarettes go through as we were in high school:
- They tried their first cigarette in sixth or seventh grade
- They feel like they are not a part of the school
- They become isolated from other students
- They can’t perform as well at sports events
- They feel like they need a job to support their smoking habit
- They start using other illegal substances
- They begin experimenting with alcohol and other drugs
- They experience pressure from home and school and use tobacco as a form of relief
- Teen smokers enjoy trying to hide their smoking
Now some of these known experiences are far fetched but can happen with teens who choose the wrong crowd to hang out with and their habit becomes out of control and leading them into other substances to make them seem "Cool." Being "cool" not only is portrayed with the peers that teens are surrounded by, but their icons such as Lady Gaga above ^, who seems to be advertising the smoke shades as I like to call them. Does it make you want to smoke??Teens of every generation before and after me have and will strive for attention whether it be good or bad. Smoking cigarettes just seems so eaasy to do if almost everyone around your life smokes, therefore, even the more rush to seek cigarettes out of your parents pack and hide in your room and take your first puff. It's a rush and that's what it was about for me. I just wanted the attention it was not about me breaking laws like stealing but breaking the rules my parents set in place and to be sponetaneous and rebellious!
On the other hand, when I took my first puff of a cigarette years ago I did not know how addicting they were and I honestly did not think I would continue smoking. Boy I was wrong! To this day I am a Marlboro Medium smoker and just apart of the statistics. I have noticed that the older I become the sicker I always am and the more I smoke when I stress out. Now that my family knows I smoke it is not a problem to smoke and no need to hide it
but if I could go back in time I would and put down the cigarette that I picked up. I was just naive as most teens who begin to smoke and did not think I could get hooked, but I did!
However, times are changing and smoking is becoming almoost impossible and unattractive to the public eyes. Schools no longer have the yellow lined smoking boxes for the staff and students but now have teachers strolling parking lots during lunch hours to make sure students are not smoking. Public places like Buffalo Wild Wings and other family places are becoming non smoking across the state of Ohio. So in theory this smoke free environment that we are living in should decrease the amount of smokers if the cost of cigarettes does not beat it.
http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teensmoking.html
I believe the monkey see monkey do. My husband and I are smokers (he quit) but 4 of our 5 kids smoke. I often wondered if they started smoking because we did. I am glad that Ohio is a non-smoking state. I am not sure why I keep smoking I hate the smell of smoke it is in your clothing, house, car and hair! I am glad that Ohio is a non smoking state.I also believe it is very unattractive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this completely. I grew up in a house where my dad smoked. (In the house). Then when he had his first heart attack in 1991 I thought I will never be a smoker. I heard him coughing all the time from emphysema and it sounded horrible. The first things he would do when he woke up was cough and smoke. His whole life revolved around cigarettes. I started smoking when I was roughly fifteen. I had fairly easy access to buy cigarettes because the guy that worked at the gas station across the street from my job would let me buy them. (He knew I was only fifteen). I was pressured by another peer to start smoking and I wish to this day that I had never started. I have tried to quit, but I feel like I am going to die, literally. I get coughing spells, anxious, and I just feel like I am going to die if I don't have another cigarette. I know some of this is in my head, but I do not like that feeling. I thought that I would be "cool" and more popular when I picked up my first cigarette. I wound up being more alone. I was always standing alone to smoke and still do to this day. I really wish I had the willpower to quit smoking.
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