• Skip to content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Shop ModernMom
  • Become An Insider

ModernMom

The premiere destination for moms

  • Parenting
    • Pregnancy
    • Baby
    • Kids
    • Tweens and Teens
    • ModernMom Monday Videos
  • Cooking
  • Living Healthy
    • Breast Cancer
    • Health & Fitness
    • Body after Baby
    • Beauty
    • Relationships
    • Love
  • Lifestyle
    • Crafts
    • At Home
    • Education
    • Travel
    • Pets
    • Decorate
    • Money
    • Brooke Burke
  • Celebrate
    • Holidays
      • Easter
      • Valentine’s Day
      • New Year’s
      • Christmas
      • Hanukah
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
    • Birthdays
    • Parties
  • Must Have
  • Contests
  • Entertainment

Causes for Teenage Smoking

December 10, 2010 by ds_65371 Leave a Comment

Nearly all parents hope their teens make it to their 18th birthdays without taking a puff of a cigarette. According to KidsHealth, however, 20 percent of these proud parents will be disappointed. Despite the warnings, potential health effects and costs associated with smoking, 1 in 5 high school students still pick up the habit.

Dangers of Starting Young

Teens who start smoking will likely struggle to break the habit throughout their entire lives, making preventing teen smoking even more vital. As KidsHealth reports, 9 out of 10 smokers pick up the habit before they turn 18. This means that if you can get your teen through those formative years smoke-free, you can increase the likelihood that he remains smoke free for his entire life.

Peer Pressure

For many teens, peer pressure leads them to pick up the puffing habit. Teens are naturally eager to conform and change their behavior to mirror that of their friends. Because of this, adolescents who are friends with smokers are likely to become smokers themselves. Even if their smoking friends do not encourage their non-smoking friends to pick up the habit, just seeing the fellow teens they respect smoking can entice some to start.

Building a Rep

During teenage years, children create an identity for themselves. For some teens, developing this identity requires picking up some reputation-appropriate habits, such as smoking. Teens who want to look tough or give off a too-cool-for-school vibe may elect to smoke, as this habit fits in with the rule-breaking persona they are trying to create.

Media Influences

Many pin teen smoking, at least in part, upon the media. These individuals argue that teens witness singers, actors and other public figures as they smoke and, as a result, opt to smoke themselves. Lawmakers have fought for regulations that limit scenes of smoking on TV and in movies.

Future

While the health ramifications of smoking are highly publicized, many teens are able to turn a blind eye to these warnings by telling themselves that they don’t apply to them. These health consequences seem to many teens to be in the distant future and, as a result, not really real. It is easy for teens to lie to themselves about their risks of suffering one of these health consequences, as teens, by their very nature, and prone to feeling invincible.

Comments

comments

Filed Under: Parenting

About ds_65371

Erin Schreiner is a freelance writer and teacher who holds a bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University. She has been actively freelancing since 2008. Schreiner previously worked for a London-based freelance firm. Her work appears on eHow, Trails.com and RedEnvelope. She currently teaches writing to middle school students in Ohio and works on her writing craft regularly.

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Tell a friend

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

ModernMom Boutique

ModernMom TV

Featured

Third Child

I Want a Third Child, Except, I Really Don’t

Something strange has been happening to me lately:  I keep … [Read More...] about I Want a Third Child, Except, I Really Don’t

Must Have

ToniBox

Meet Toniebox – A Loveable Storytime Friend For Your Kids

If you are looking for something to occupy your children … [Read More...] about Meet Toniebox – A Loveable Storytime Friend For Your Kids

Did you know?

abdominal pain on the left side in pregnancy

Abdominal Pain on the Left Side in Pregnancy

Breast Pains & Pregnancy

Breast Pains & Pregnancy

Painful Intercourse During Pregnancy

Painful Intercourse During Pregnancy

Pregnancy and Sinus Pain

Pregnancy and Sinus Pain

Symptoms of Pregnancy If HCG Injection Is Taken

Tips on Exercising While Pregnant

Tips on Exercising While Pregnant

how to find out your pregnancy due date

How to Find Out Your Pregnancy Due Date

Footer

  • About Us
  • Contact ModernMom
  • Advertise With Us
  • Press
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contributors

Copyright © 2021 Modern Mom. All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction of any portion of this website only at the express permission of Mom, Inc.

The information provided on ModernMom is for educational use only. It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.