Approximately 3,600 Americans adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 start smoking every day, and nearly a third of them become daily smokers, according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Causes
According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, adolescents who live with smoking mothers are almost three times more likely to wind up smoking than their peers who live with non-smoking mothers. But mom isn't the only reason an adolescent is at increased risk for smoking. Peer pressure, wanting to fit in and trying to lose weight are just a few additional reasons adolescents begin to smoke.
Prevention
To help adolescents avoid a lifetime of smoking, the Mayo Clinic suggests preventing them from smoking their first cigarettes. A few ways to do this include talking with your children about smoking, encouraging them to not smoke, not smoking or stopping smoking if you do and helping them know how to handle peer pressure.
Health Consequences
Adolescents who smoke increase their risks for many dangerous and deadly diseases, as with their adult peers. These include cancer of the mouth, lung, kidney and bladder; heart disease and stroke; aneurysms; and infertility. Smoking increases an adolescent's risk for premature death from many of these diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Life Consequences
Adolescents who smoke experience many unwanted effects of smoking, such as unhealthy and discolored skin, bad breath and poor smelling hair and clothes. As adolescents want to be accepted, these are undesired consequences. For adolescents who enjoy sports, smoking makes competing more difficult, and young athletes may be sidelined after an injury for prolonged periods, as smoking slows the healing process.
Statistics
Nearly 20 percent of American high school students surveyed in 2009 by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion smoked cigarettes at the time of the survey, and another 14 percent claimed to smoke cigars. Additionally, 20 percent of white male high school students used smokeless tobacco products, compared to 9 percent of all high school students.
References
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: Tobacco Use
- Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration: Nationwide Study Shows That Adolescent Smoking May Be Influenced By Mothers' Smoking or Depression
- Northern Illinois University: Adolescent Smoking
- Mayo Clinic: Teen smoking: 10 ways to help teens stay smoke-free
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking
