College Smokers

College Smokers

Overview

Out of all the smokers 90% of them start by the age of 19 (Gorman, 1996). Many teens that use tobacco and are addicted started smoking in the sixth or seventh grade (Gorman, 1996). Usually smoking starts with somebody having a best friend who smokes, but this is not the only factor as parental smoking can make it seem normal to do, the media can make it look attractive, and many times adolescents have very easy access to tobacco products (Gorman, 1996).

Peer Influence

First, let's discuss the relationships adolescents have with their friends and see if this plays a factor in teen smoking. Things such as peer pressure, and just simply being friends with a person who smokes are ways which adolescents play a role in teen smoking. Research shows that peer relationships do contribute to adolescent cigarette smoking. Kids who are friends with smokers have been found more likely to smoke themselves (Kobus, 2003). This includes best friends, romantic partners, peer groups, and social crowds. Factors which are responsible for young people to start smoking have been found to be related to fitting in, social approval, popularity, and autonomy (Kobus, 2003). Parents and the media have also been found to contribute to the smoking of the youth (Kobus, 2003). If you think about it, it makes a whole lot of sense to say that peer influence is a big part of why somebody would try or start smoking. When we think about "peer pressure" we think about a kid pressuring somebody else to smoke or do something bad. This does happen, but it doesn't have to happen like this to be considered peer pressure. Research shows that teenagers report that they feel a self-pressure or curiosity to smoke if other kids around them are smoking just so they could gain social approval, avoid being excluded, and to simply have a sense of independence (Kobus, 2003). Not only is this true but it is also found that teenagers who smoke watch other teens who smoke and they mimic the way the other person smokes so they can feel as if they fit in with other teens (Kobus, 2003). How could this ever be controlled if every person goes through this stage in life? Peer pressure is going to be around till the end of time.

Media Influence

Next, let's talk about the role the media plays in influencing young people to smoke. This includes cigarette advertising, antismoking advertising, and smoking in movies, television, music media, and news coverage about smoking. All of these are believed to play a role (Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, Giovino, 2003). An overwhelming amount of our youth have been expose to 16-18 hours of television and radio a week, R-rated movies, and pornographic magazines all by the time they have reached 15-16 years of age(Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, Giovino, 2003). Everybody knows that our nation's youth are influenced by celebrities, athletes, and politicians. When a child sees a role model participating in a certain behavior then he or she is going to try and be like that person. So when a young person sees people smoking or using tobacco then they are going to become inclined to want and try to do the same thing. Cigarette companies also get paid advertisements placed in magazines in which teenagers read (Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, Giovino, 2003). People who think that the media in this country does not persuade them to do anything are in a denial and need to open their eyes because it is happening everyday in some way shape or form. The media is probably one of the most powerful outlets of information the world has and it needs to start putting out positive messages rather than negative ones.

Parental Influence

Parents can play a huge role in a child's decision to smoke or use tobacco. Studies show that children of parents who smoke are more likely to smoke themselves (Kobus, 2003). In fact, a parent's influence is even stronger than that of a child's peers (Kobus, 2003). This is another one of those factors that which we have no control over as a general public and the only way this factor could drop is that if everybody stopped smoking when they had kids. Some strong reasons for this being such a strong factor is that when a child sees there parents smoking they do not have any real fear of getting in trouble for smoking themselves because