Smoking is just another of the many mistakes that teens often make during their pursuit of acceptance and popularity. For years, parents, educators and medical experts have been going on about how bad it is for health. Yet, lighting up has continued to remain a “cool” thing in schools. The efforts of concerned adults to keep kids away from cigarettes have not exactly been producing ideal results. This, however, is hardly surprising, considering the findings of a recent research on peer pressure and smoking.

Correlation between smoking and popularity in schools

The problem of smoking in schools stems from peer pressure and the perception of the act being cool in itself. Many kids simply take up the habit because they see the popular kids doing it and hence feel pressurized to follow suit in order to fit in, grow popular, or maintain their popularity. According to a research by Thomas Valente, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, popularity is a strong predictor of smoking. In other words, popular kids are more likely to take up smoking than other kids. The author of the study feels that there simply hasn’t been enough effort on part of adults to deglamorize smoking.

Valente observed that parents are adding to the problem by pushing their kids to fit in and make friends at school. This, at times, can lead the kids to adopt risky and inappropriate behavior in order to become part of the group.

The study further observed that teens are more prone to lighting up if their friends are doing it, and less influenced by what the rest of the school is up to. Even a hunch that their peers are doing it is enough to coax them into smoking at times.

Why teen smokers are a matter of concern?

Smoking is far less prevalent in teens than it is in adult. Yet, the magnitude of the problem is no less significant. According to American Lung Association, 68 percent of smokers started at age 18 or less. It further revealed that on average, 3,900 kids below the age of 18 light up for the first time every day.

The alarming stats are indeed a matter of huge concern. According to the American Lung Association, smokers who pick up the habit during their teen years are more likely to develop nicotine addiction than people who start smoking later. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Teens who smoke tend to suffer from reduced stamina and weakened immunity against cough and cold. In the long run, smoking can cause lung cancer and heart diseases. There is clearly too much risk involved in smoking, yet teens inadvertently put all this at stake for the sake of popularity.

What can be done to discourage smoking in teens?

Smoking is clearly a threat that teens need protection from; there’s no one in a better position to provide this protection than parents and teachers. They need to explain the harmful effects of tobacco to kids and debunk the myth surrounding cigarettes and their impact on popularity perpetuated by mainstream media and marketing companies. The efforts to curb smoking in teens may have a higher probability of success if popular kids are involved in it.

Combating teenage smoking is not an easy task for concerned adults, but this is definitely one fight they simply cannot afford to give up on. The threat posed by cigarettes is very real and has the potential to have a long impact on the lives of teens. In order to have any real chance of defeating smoking, it’s vital that it’s disassociated with popularity.

Source: https://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/09/06/smokers-are-still-high-schools-cool-kids-study-finds