why s

1. "SMOKING"
Smoking is injurious to health .But still its addiction is increasing very rapidly .This topic really
interests me that why do teenagers and students start smoking?.Even when they know that it is
nothing good but injurious to health . Many teenagers start smoking because of physiological
problems, social problems and their life styles.
INTRODUCTION:-
Every one dislikes smokers, but no one tries to know why did they start smoking. Truth is that
society is responsible for this habit. It may be ignorance, parental attitude, peer pressure, burden
of study etc. In my research I tried to find why teens still smoke in spite of all the warning and
knowledge , that it is injurious to health. Many people begin smoking when they are teenagers to
relief their stress; they found it in a pack of cigarette. Ninety percent of smokers start smoking at
or before 18 (Evans, 2006) . Approximately 3,000 teens will smoke their first cigarette, today. Of
those teens, 1,000 will end up dying as a result of smoking. The majority of people who smoke
wish they had never started it. In my survey when i asked questions to teens , majority said: It
relaxes me, It keeps me thin and I can quit any time I want.
PHYSIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS:-
The reasons why most teenagers begin to smoke deal mostly with physiological problems. There
are many type of physiological problem like following :

2. 1. IGNORANCE EFFECT:-
If teens cannot get attention from their parents, love and friends they will try to get attention by
smoking (Teens and Smoking Tobacco , 2005). Teens that are ignored or are not accepted into a
group of peers often turn to cigarettes. Even with all the awareness of the harmful effects of
smoking. Teenagers sometimes feel that they will eventually quit before anything happens to
them even though 50 percent of adult smokers started before they turned 18, according to the
American Lung Association website (Teens and Smoking Tobacco , 2005).
2. SELF MEDICINE TO IMPROVE MOOD:-
Some teens use cigarettes to self-medicate. But it isn’t well-known whether using cigarettes to
improve mood or functioning is associated with changes in depressive symptoms. Cigarette
temporary decreases stress level and improve mood but it have long term effects on teenagers. It
increases depression (Cigarette Habit and Depression in Teens who Smoke, Sep 2010).
3. DEPRESSION:-
When teenagers get depressed and wants relief from stress, they find it in a pack of cigarette
(Gill, Despite Serious Consequences, Teens Still Start Smoking, 2004). To reduce stress Teens
get worried about their appearance, their feelings, and their roles. They must continuously deal
with their emerging sexuality, independence and personal values (Gill, Despite Serious
Consequences, Teens Still Start Smoking, 2004). All this uncertainty, as well as the attempts of
establishing their own independent identities and generating complex emotional, physical and
psychological turbulence in their day to day lives. Presence or absence of adequate, non-drug
ways of coping with various mood issues (feeling tense, sad, angry, and bored, etc.) increases
chances to use tobacco to change their mood and feel relaxing (Sep 2007). Many teens report

3. they smoke because it makes them feel better when they're under stress; when they're tense,
angry or worry.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS:-
People began smoking socially (at parties, after going out to eat, etc.)
with no intention of becoming addicted. They may have started by only smoking cigarettes that
addicted smokers offered to them in social situations, justifying it with statements like “well, as
long as I’m not buying my own and smoke all the time, it’s okay.” While some people can pull
this off, others cannot, and for them social smoking is just a greased chute leading to full-blown
addiction. Following are some social problems for which teenagers start smoking:
1.PARENTAL INFLUENCE:-
The family is full of energy in providing best conditions for the growth and health of children.
Love and affection are necessary for the psychological development of the child. The more
parents smoke and/or drink, the more their sons or daughters are likely to smoke and/or drink as
students. The mothers' smoking appears to exert a stronger influence than the fathers (Flower,
May 2010)'. Teenagers who have parents who smoke are more likely to take it up. In fact,
according to the Family First Aid Organization's website, 98 percent of teenage smokers have
parents who smoke (Flower, May 2010).
2.PEER PRESSURE:-
Growing up age is a confusing period in a person's lifetime. Young people challenge authority,
refuse parental control and adopt the behavior of their peers (Gill, Despite Serious
Consequences, Teens Still Start Smoking, 2004). Another reason people start smoking is peer

4. pressure. While everyone responds to peer pressure differently, most kids are highly susceptible
to its influences when they are in their early teens. This is when they care more about the
opinions of their friends than anything else and will do almost anything to stay in their friends’
good grace. A strong motivator to start smoking is a feeling of being left out, so teens start to
smoke just to fit in with the crowd. Often they feel encouraged and pressured or even teased and
taunted into smoking. Many times their peers encourage them to start, and even show them how
it is done, even how to do things such as blowing smoke rings etc. Teens smoke because their
friends do. If a teenager spends most of his time with friends who smoke, there is a good chance
he will start as well. Good old-fashioned peer pressure is still one of the strongest forces that
compels teenagers to start the habit (Cigarette Habit and Depression in Teens who Smoke, Sep
2010)
3.ADVERTISEMENT/FILM STAR ATTRACTION:-
Advertising Still Attracts growing up teenagers to start Smoking. Watching their favorite movie
stars light up is having significant impacts on young people. The images of Hollywood stars and
musicians smoking have had an influence on people's decisions to start smoking (Smoking -
Exploiting Children, Oct 2004). People, and especially young people, see these images, and
imagine how cool they would look if they smoked. In a research numbers of cigarette smoking
activity in 601 popular films released in the U.S. from 2001 to 2009, and they found an average
of five occurrences of tobacco use per movie. Kids are twice as likely to be influenced by
advertising as they are from peer pressure. They are three times more sensitive to advertising
than adults. Norway banned advertising and reduced by half the number of children who started
smoking.

5. 4.PERSONAL INCOME/PART TIME JOB:-
High-school students who take part-time jobs for pocket money may be more likely to start
smoking than teens that don't join the after-school and weekend workforce, a study suggests.
What we found were the kids who worked more than 10 hours a week on average had an earlier
age of initiation. So they started to smoke ahead of their peers. Second is that they can now buy
cigarettes, as before they may have not had the means, the money, to buy cigarettes
LIFE STYLE:-
1. FEEL MORE MATURE OR ADULT:-
Teens smoke because it makes them feel older and more mature. They're on the trajectory to
becoming an adult smoker." Smoking is allowed only after teenage so they feel mature or adult
while smoking.
2. LOOK COOL & FASHIONABLE:-
By far the biggest reason people start smoking is the desire to look cool. To a twelve-to-sixteen-
year-old kid without much life experience, smoking a cigarette feels like a cool, “mature” thing
to do (Flower, May 2010). This is especially true if most of the adults in his or her life (parents,
relatives, bosses at work, etc.) smoke cigarettes and have for most of their lives. Teenagers are
still creatures of imitations, and if they perceive cigarette smoking as the “adult” thing to do, they
will do it. Teens also want to fit in with peer groups , they admire-the "cool" kids-and many of
them will do what "cool" kids do. Some teens believe that smoking makes them more popular,
"cool", attractive, sexy or rugged (Evans, 2006).

6. 3. RISK BEHAVIOR:-
In most of studies on the multiple risk behaviour, tobacco smoking is considered as one of the
main components. Teens are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors and do unfriendly
things than other age groups. Because they typically feel strong, impossible to get harm, fearless
to deal with accidents and illnesses. They often feel that nothing bad will happen to them
(Samilian, 2007). The belief that a few cigarettes can't hurt and make them addicted, they think
that they could quit at any time. It is about image more than anything else as most people would
agree that the first cigarette is certainly not pleasant. It becomes a challenge to overcome the
coughing, burning throat, the choking, the burning of the eyes (Newell, 2010).
FOR WEIGHT CONTROL:
Many studies have reported that teenager girls and young women smoke to control their weight
(Samilian, 2007). In high school, smokers were no more likely than nonsmokers to be trying to
lose weight. 85 percent of informants replied that they had never smoked as a way to control
their weight. One-half of informants at age 21 believed that smoking as a weight-control strategy
(Newell, 2010). Many studies have reported that teenager girls and young women smoke to
control their weight. In high school, smokers were no more likely than nonsmokers to be trying
to lose weight. 85 percent of informants replied that they had never smoked as a way to control
their weight. One-half of informants at age 21 believed that smoking as a weight-control
strategy. The image of what is considered beautiful is stick-thin, Having boney arms and legs. It
is the model that most women right now are trying so hard to lose weight, so much that they
would do anything to lose the extra weight.
Some of these women subscribe to various diets, While some exert all effort to burn away the

7. extra weight. some take diet teas and diet pills, and some even go through surgical process just to
suck the fat out of their bodies.
Unfortunately, Some of those women use smoking to lose weight. Why smoking? It is because
smoking is one of the fastest ways out there to lose weight. Smoking accelerates weight loss
because it kills the desire for food and quickly burns the extra weight off the body's system.
Conclusion :
Smoking is injurious to health no doubt , but still teens and students get addicted
to it .The reasons for it are that they start smoking due to the physiological problems including
depression ,tensions and social problems .As far as their life styles are concerned , then it also
causes teens to smoke .

8. Bibliography
Cigarette Habit and Depression in Teens who Smoke. (Sep 2010). Smoking News .
Evans, A. (2006). Smoking and teenagers.
Flower, M. (May 2010). Kiara Walker.
Gill, J. E. (2004). Despite Serious Consequences, Teens Still Start Smoking.
Newell, J. (2010). Why Do People Start Smoking?
Samilian, L. (2007). Why Do Teenagers Start Smoking? E How.
(Sep 2007). The Canadian Press.
Smoking - Exploiting Children. (Oct 2004). CBC News .
(2005). Teens and Smoking Tobacco .
Tobacco & Marijuana. (Jan 2010). Psychology .
Ellickson, PL. (Jan 2006). High-risk behaviors associated with early smoking.