Smoking is a contemporary reality that we youngsterz need to be made senstive of…However i hope i m of little help to u….

If you are a teenager, chances are that you have considered taking up smoking at some point. About 3,000 teenagers pick up the smoking habit each day in America, or roughly one million new teenage smokers per year. About 60% of all high school students try smoking by the time they are seniors. That means lots of new smokers, and it also means there’s a good chance that you or one of your friends is smoking right now.

why do teenagers start smoking? If you ask teenagers, here are the four most common reasons:

Group acceptance – if their friends smoke, many teenagers will begin smoking simply to maintain their acceptance within the group. AKA “peer pressure”.

Image projection – there is definitely an “image” attached to smoking by advertising. For women it is one of sexiness and desirability, and for men it is one of rugged individualism, fun or coolness. If a teenager buys into that image, then smoking begins.

Rebellion – many teenagers take up smoking because they know it annoys/bothers/infuriates their parents and other adults. There is also a certain element of “independence” or “doing what is not allowed” or “walking on the wild side” worked in as well.

Adult aspirations – some teenagers believe that by smoking they are acting like an adult. If the teenager is raised in a community where most of the adults smoke, then this is perhaps a logical conclusion.

The “teenage mind” is much different from the “adult mind.” All teenagers eventually figure this out – that is the point at which they start to become adults. But until a teenager turns on his or her adult brain and begins thinking like an adult, he or she is stuck with a teenage brain. The key concept here is that “being a teenager” is a temporary state meant to be outgrown. In other words, “being a teenager” can be equated to “being a child” at some level. The idea is for a teenager to outgrow teendom and become an adult. Once you understand that, you are on your way. But before that happens your “teenage mind” tends to be extremely non-rational and very reactive. Every single person who starts smoking is doing it because they are using their “teenage mind” to make the decision, rather than an adult mind.

“SO QUIT SMOKING !! ”

Thanx & all the bez..!!

Sure, Smoking Causes Cancer, But It Won’t Happen to Me

Grant Results

Last Updated: July 2001

Table of Contents—————————THE PROJECTFINDINGSCOMMUNICATIONSAFTER THE GRANTGRANT DETAILS & CONTACT INFORMATIONBIBLIOGRAPHY

SUMMARY

The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication conducted a national telephone survey that assessed how well adolescents understand the risks of smoking. Working under the direction of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), Princeton Survey Research Associates surveyed 300 smokers and 300 nonsmokers aged 14 to 22.

The Robert Wood Johnson provided a $40,000 grant for the project.

Key Findings

The survey found that:

Although young people do tend to overstate one of the best-known smoking-related risks — that of contracting lung cancer — they either underestimate or do not know of the danger of several other serious risks. These include:

The chance of dying from lung cancer after contracting the disease.

The overall risk of dying from smoking-related illnesses.

The average years of life lost to smoking-related illnesses.

Their own personal risk — as opposed to the risk to smokers in general.

The dangers of smoking in comparison to other kinds of high-risk behavior, such as the use of illegal drugs.

They are also overly optimistic about their ability to quit smoking when they wish. Smokers who saw smoking as very risky were more than four times more likely to want to quit than others — suggesting that smoking-cessation campaigns should emphasize the risks of smoking.

Concern about second-hand smoke appears to motivate quitting and suggests that campaigns should also include education about the dangers of secondhand smoke and the rights of nonsmokers.

Dissemination

Researchers presented their preliminary findings at a July 1999 seminar at the Annenberg School and have written two articles and three chapters for a book on smoking risk (see the Bibliography).

The Annenberg Public Policy Center conducted a second survey that extended the findings to adults. The results of both surveys are contained in five chapters in a book edited by Paul Slovic, Smoking: Risk, Perception, and Policy (Sage Press, 2001).

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THE PROJECT

According to a 1994 surgeon general’s report, most people who smoke began before the age of 20. Adolescent smoking has been a matter of concern because an estimated one-third of those who smoke as teenagers will die of smoking-related causes if they continue to smoke at the same rates as previous generations. Health experts estimate that 50 percent of lifetime smokers will die prematurely from the habit. Half of those deaths will result from lung cancer, which has approximately an 80 percent fatality rate.

Observers have disagreed about the ability of adolescents to appreciate the health risks of smoking. Risk economist W. Kip Viscusi analyzed a 1985 nationwide telephone survey sponsored by the tobacco industry. The survey comprised 3,100 respondents, of whom 300 were young people aged 16 to 21. Based on that survey, Viscusi claimed that adolescents understand the risks of smoking and even exaggerate the risk of developing lung cancer.

With funding from RWJF, APPC — part of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania — conducted a survey of adolescents to investigate how well adolescents understand the risks of cigarettes. From May to July 1999, Princeton Survey Research Associates conducted the National Smoking Risk Assessment Survey of 300 smokers and 300 nonsmokers aged 14 to 22.

The survey used some of Viscusi’s questions for eliciting risk judgments about smoking, but probed further to assess perceptions of health risks to the respondent as well as to smokers in general. The survey also investigated respondents’ knowledge about how the severity of smoking-related risk compares with other kinds of behavior-related risks. Respondents were asked their perceptions of such other risks as harming others through secondhand smoke and the potential benefits of smoking, such as weight control. The survey also asked about intentions to quit smoking and how easy or difficult respondents felt it would be to do so.

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FINDINGS

Only 28 percent of smokers and 35 percent of nonsmokers accurately assessed the risk of lifetime smoking. Young people do not overestimate the overall mortality rate. Only 27 percent of smokers and 31 percent of nonsmokers overestimated the risk of premature death from lifetime smoking, which health experts set at 50 percent. Some 46 percent of smokers and 34 percent of nonsmokers either underestimated the true mortality rate of lifetime smoking or indicated they did not know what the rate was.

Young people do overstate the risk of contracting lung cancer as a result of smoking, but underestimate the deadliness of this disease. Some 64 percent of young smokers and 74 percent of nonsmokers overstated the risk of contracting lung cancer from lifetime smoking in comparison to epidemiological estimates. Respondents underestimated, however, how likely lung cancer is to be fatal.

Young smokers understand that smoking is likely to shorten a person’s life, but do not have a clear idea of the number of years involved. More than two-thirds of smokers (68 percent) said that smoking two or more packs per week would shorten one’s life, but less than half knew the time lost would be as long as 5 to 10 years. About one in seven thought a year or less would be lost, and about one in four could not say how many years might be lost.

Young smokers are optimistic that they personally will avoid the health consequences of smoking. In keeping with other research findings, young smokers in this study estimated their own personal risks differently from risks to smokers in general. Regardless of their view of general risk, large proportions of young smokers viewed their own smoking as less than “very risky” for their health. Some 40 percent of young smokers who knew that about half of lifetime smokers die from smoking-related causes nonetheless viewed their own smoking as less than very risky.

The perception of risk affects a smoker’s desire to quit. About four in five smokers reported that they planned to quit. Those who saw smoking as very risky were more than four times more likely to want to quit than others were. This finding suggests that antismoking campaigns aimed at adolescents should emphasize risks.

Young people say smoking is less likely to kill than other causes of death that may be behavior related. Some 42 percent of respondents did not know that more people die from smoking-related causes than from gunshots and car accidents combined, while 63 percent did not know that more die from smoking than drug abuse.

Concern about secondhand smoke can motivate young people to quit smoking. The only statistically significant predictor of planning to quit smoking or having actually quit was the belief that secondhand smoke harmed nonsmokers. A respondent who expressed this concern was three times as likely to have quit or to report planning to do so as was a smoker who did not believe secondhand smoke was harmful. This finding suggests adolescent antismoking campaigns should educate teens about the dangers of secondhand smoke and the rights of nonsmokers.