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What Are the Health Effects of Smoking in Teens?If you start smoking cigarettes on a regular basis, you will probably soon experience these health effects:
In time, you may notice that you develop facial wrinkles earlier and look older than your friends who don't smoke. This may not seem too important when you're 15, but wait until you're 30 and look like you're 40! Some day, you may experience one or more of the serious health problems mentioned in Why it's Important to Quit. These include cancer, heart disease, and stroke. If smoking rates stay constant, more than 6.4 million children living today will die of a smoking-related disease. Why Do Teens Start Smoking?Almost 90 percent of adults who become regular smokers began smoking at or before age 18. If smoking causes so many health problems, why do teens start smoking? Teens might take up smoking because their parents or friends smoke. They may see smoking as a way of rebelling and showing their independence. Increasingly, studies are showing that tobacco advertising is a major factor in teens' decisions to start smoking. In fact, it may be an even more important risk factor for smoking than being exposed to parents or friends who smoke. During elementary school and the early part of middle school, most children have not yet tried a cigarette. If asked, most state that they will never smoke. As they get older, some become more open to the idea of smoking. Studies show that getting a cigarette promotional item makes it almost three times more likely that a teen will start smoking. Such an item may be a T-shirt, toy, or cigarette lighter that has a cigarette brand logo. Cigarette companies carefully shape their advertising campaigns to portray smokers as cool, independent, fun, sexually attractive, and living on the edge. Some teens are attracted to this image. Being given cigarette promotional items offers them the opportunity to "try on the image of a smoker." As a result, they try smoking and some get hooked. Another reason that teens start smoking is to stay thin. This is more of a factor for girls than boys. One study reported that half of high school girls who smoke but only one-quarter of high school boys who smoke do so to control their weight. If you want to lose weight or stay thin, there are better ways to do this than to start smoking. Regular exercise and eating healthy foods will keep you thin without causing health problems. For more information, see the Fitness and Nutrition sections of girlshealth.gov. Teens and Quitting SmokingMost teens think that they can stop smoking easily. Only 3 out of 100 high school smokers think they will be smoking in 5 years. In fact, 60 out of 100 will still be smoking 7 to 9 years later, according to the American Cancer Society. It will take 16 to 20 years of addicted smoking before the average person who starts smoking as a teen will be able to successfully quit. The way for teens to combat the effects of cigarette advertising is to become aware of what's behind it. The fact is—you are being manipulated! If you want to show your independence, don't allow yourself to be manipulated by cigarette advertising.
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Content last updated March 19, 2008. |
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