Influence Of Tobacco Use. “The Prevalence Of Current Smoking

Cigarette companies use trends, age, culture, and other things to hook a person to their product. The companies mainly target teens because of their ignorance and teens who get addicted that young will likely be customers for life. Tobacco is promoted on almost every television network and 1/3 of adolescent experimentation with smoking results from the advertising. (Tobacco Free Broome and Tioga) Not only are cigarettes promoted on TV, but their promoted throughout everyone’s lifestyle. Maybe a role model you have, maybe one of your parents, or maybe a celebrity you enjoy following... any one of these people could smoke and the mindset of many is, “if they’re doing it, so can I”. Mike Magee smoked his first L&M cigarette when he nine years old, his parents smoked and kept cigarettes in the house and therefore they were accessible. He and his siblings said that learning how to smoke was

Tobacco companies advertise in magazines, promote their products in convenience stores and market their brands through websites and social networks. Many of these tobacco industries get publicity and attract more young customers when using the newly in media to promote their products. Many of these tobacco companies don’t understand that tobacco advertising is a huge public health issue that increases smoking. Tobacco company advertising and promoting is the start of the use of tobacco among teenagers. Now, these media and magazine advertisements about cigars have caused teenagers to be exposed to cigarette advertising. Not only that but also these teenagers find ads appealing and also increase their desire to smoke. Cigarette companies spent about $8.37 billion on advertising and promotional expenses in the United States in 2011.

According to a research done by the Canadian Lung Association, 70% of teens started smoking because their friends smoked or because they felt peer pressure to try smoking. That would be a dangerous behavior caused by peer pressure. Here is another example of bad things caused by peer pressure; 55% of teens tried drugs for the first time because they felt pressured by their friends. Not all the times, but sometimes, people tend to do bad things with other people because they feel more secure with other people than being alone. In Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, the main character named Stargirl defies conformity and lives with her own mind. That is why I value Stargirl’s affection(Individuality) more than JMS students’ affection(conformity).

Over the last few decades, tobacco and nicotine prevention efforts have risen to an all time high. Prevention efforts focus on education to the public of the negative effects on one’s health when using tobacco and nicotine products, as well as with pleas to healthcare policymakers to increase restrictions on product manufacturing and sales. One policy effort growing in popularity in the United States is called Tobacco 21, which proposes to raise the legal age of purchase for consumers of tobacco and nicotine products to 21 years of age (Farber, Pakhale, & Neptune, 2016). Farber, Pakhale, and Neptune (2016) state that 90% of tobacco and nicotine users begin smoking before the age of 18, with 99% of users starting before the age of 26. Lower smoking cessation rates are associated with earlier ages of initiation and the tobacco industry is known to target youth in advertisement of these products lending to the early age of initiation. The tobacco industry themselves admit that increasing the age allowed for purchase to exclude youth would substantially effect their sales. Tobacco 21 laws also deter adolescents from gaining tobacco or nicotine products from friends 18 to 21 years of age, which is the most likely age group to supply younger teens. With this knowledge, placing tighter restrictions on consumers younger than 21 years of age, using the Tobacco 21 policy, may deter tobacco and nicotine initiation in hopes to prevent individual use at all in the future (Farber

According to the Social Ecological Model, the mass media is one factor influencing drug abuse among adolescents. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2011) states that the tobacco industry in OC has focused on attracting teen to mid twenty adults through their tobacco advertising on television shows that adolescents watch. This is a huge factor that promotes drug abuse among adolescents by advertising tobacco products and lure them into using tobacco. Researchers from the Journal of the Medical Association (2012) found that about 70,000 adolescents who encountered smoking each year in Orange County was a result of tobacco industry advertisements, which increased adolescents’ susceptibility to drug abuse. Another way the mass media influences drug abuse is through the internet. Studies show that about 70% of adolescents in OC are exposed to drugs on the internet causing them to experiment with drugs because it is considered a “cool” thing to do (2010). Adolescents who come across any type of drugs are three times more likely to consume it (2010). The interpersonal level also has a huge impact on adolescents. Being exposed to family members and peers who smoke increases a teen’s susceptibility of engaging in the behavior. About one in every five Orange County households, adolescents’ parents smoke (2015). Among teens whose family and peers smoke or have drug addictions, about 88% of them

middle (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011-2014 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS). In 2014, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle (3.9%) and high (13.4%) school students. Between 2011 and 2014, statistically significant increases were observed among these students for current use of both e-cigarettes and hookahs (p<0.05), while decreases were observed for current use of more traditional products, such as cigarettes and cigars, resulting in no change in overall tobacco use. Consequently, 4.6 million middle and high school students continue to be exposed to harmful tobacco product constituents, including nicotine.” (Arrazola

In fact, the tobacco industry has suffered ever since antismoking advertising has begun (Johnston, p. 107). According to statistics, 4 in every 10 Americans who are in 12th grade have tried cigarettes, and 1 in 10 consider themselves current smokers. As well as, 1 in 5, 8th graders have tried cigarettes, and 1 in 16 consider themselves current smokers (Johnston, p. 107). Now that society is aware of the harms of tobacco, it is important to decrease such rates of smoking amongst youth. Not only are there commercials about the risks of cigarette smoking, but also there are commercials that promote living above the influence of all drugs, including alcohol and marijuana. Lastly, as research continues to improve, and new drugs arise it is important to keep youth educated on the risks of using such drugs. It is important to keep our youth safe from the dangers of

In our communities, the youth can easily identified any of tobacco’s product. The author, Steven Reinberg, published , Tobacco Companies Targeting Teens, Study Says, states that the tobacco product, Marlboro, is highly purchased by high school students according to usnews.com. Mr. McGoldrick states that the three brands, 90 percent is being marketed. Most companies hold their ground saying that their tobacco products are not meant to bought by youth, but somehow still managed to in our children’s hands, in his article, Tobacco Companies Targeting Teens, Study Says (steven Reinberg). According to Erin Brodwin, author of “Tobacco Companies Still Target Youth despite A Globally Treaty”, states that children all over the world can identify the tobacco brands. Not only are children picking up their ideas from television, but also from public. Children knowing which brands shows how serious the addiction can be. Seeing how easily the product being shown to the youth is another way of starting. If less smokers are seen in public, the lower the numbers will

Peer influence can occur in several different ways, including modelling (Hundelby and Mercier, 1987) and direct peer persuasion (Graham, Marks, & Hansen, 1991). However, more recent research has acknowledged that simply studying peer influence may ignore other group-level aspects, leading to a greater number of studies which implement the use of SNA to determine network-level measures that enhance the conceptualization of peer influence. Research has focused on many types of troublesome adolescent behaviour, including alcohol consumption (Bot et al, 2005), smoking (Wiist and Snider, 1991; Abel, Plumridge and Graham, 2002; Ennett et al, 2008; Valente, Unger, and Johnson, 2005), substance abuse (Ennett et al, 2006), eating disorders (Hutchinson & Rapee, 2006), and risky sexual behaviour (Okonkwo, Fatusi, and Ilika, 2005). The mechanisms of peer influence in these studies are different but related, and are modified by friendship and group characteristics. For example, in their study about drinking behaviour, Bot et al (2005) found that the friendship dimensions that most affected the tendency to drink alcohol were relative differences in sociometric status and degree of reciprocity desired within the friendship1. In 1996, Ennett and Bauman concluded that simple peer influence is not a powerful determinant of adolescent substance abuse because of friendship selection characteristics, and recommended the use of SNA to provide a more critical examination. Later,

In study after study, peer pressure is associated in adolescents of all ethnic and racial backgrounds with at-risk behaviors such as cigarette smoking, truancy, drug use, sexual activity, fighting, shoplifting, and daredevil stunts. Again, peer group values and attitudes influence more strongly than do family values the level of teenage alcohol use. The more accepting peers are of risky behavior, and the more they participate in that behavior, the more likely a person is to do the same thing.

Nowadays students are not only being pressured to smoke by their peers and by their surrounding, but they are also watching their parents smoke. Many teens have been influenced by

One of the largest issues today is adolescent smoking. According to a heath based website, nearly 90% of adult smokers start while they are still teens and they never intend to get hooked. They may start by bumming a cigarette or two from a friend at a party, and then go on to buying an occasional pack. Soon they realize that they can't go without that pack. They've gotten used to reaching for a cigarette first thing in the morning, after meals, or during any stressful time. They become addicted, both physically and psychologically. According to the American Lung Association, each day 6,000 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette. Almost 2,000 of them will become regular smokers – that’s 757, 000 new smokers annually!

To illustrate, several studies have identified social controls whose absence has caused adolescents to experiment and initiate in tobacco use. Starting at home, the influence of parental attitude and behavior toward adolescent smoking has a major impact on adolescent smoking. Newman and Ward (1989) sampled 735 students from 12 schools in and around one moderately sized Midwestern city, 18.5% of the sample were smokers. In this study, Newman & Ward asked the students questions via a questionnaire in order to rate the parental attitudes. One question asked was, "With regards to my smoking cigarettes, my parents/guardian would: threaten to punish me if I smoked; haven't told me how they feel if I smoke? ; have told me they don't care if I smoke" (Newman and Ward, 1989, p. 150). Two-thirds of the students reported that both parents would be upset if they smoked. An interesting note was that about two-thirds of the nonsmoking adolescents reported parental disapproval versus one-half of the smoking adolescents. The analysis of the data revealed that when neither parent smoked and

The author Rachel Kranz in “Straight Talk About Smoking,’ states, “Smoking more means that Lynette has less to spend on pizza and after-school snacks, because she’s got to make sure she can afford three or four packs of cigarettes each week.” (Kranz). Peer pressure to smoke can also be a way of teenagers proving that they are mature. Maturity is something that all teenagers have been told to obtain; especially by adults. The legal smoking age in most states is twenty-one, and most adults do smoke. Teenagers think that they can feel more grown up when they smoke and fit in society. Kaz Vorpal in the book of “Teen Smoking,’” states, “Adults do certain things, and therefore children who do those things feel they are more like grownups.” (Vorpal 66). Movies also contributes to teen smoking by portraying smoking as a cool, pleasurable, and harmless thing. All these factors give the teen a pressure to start smoking and never realize that the Nicotine that is found in the cigarette is addictive and causes major health problems like cancer.

Peer pressure has pushed teens to smoking. We all know how peer pressure can influence a lot of our youth today. It can be hard to go against the crowd, and just do what we wanted. We as teenagers want to look cool to other people, so we say why not. At that moment we have expose ourselves to a bad future as a result. It only takes nicotine a few seconds to reach the mind of humans, and from there you are hook. Most smokers start at an early age, and it was a bad habit to get rid of in the end. That is why we should stay away from drugs. As a result, we can have a better future and a longer life. We fail to realize that we are only harming ourselves. People who tend not to smoke tend to live better. Smokers are more likely to get cancer than a nonsmoker. We should remind ourselves who we are and not let per pressure influence us. The future of the world could be at stake, and your future too.