Discover the alarming rate of teen smoking in our society as well as the exact steps that can be taken to stop and prevent it.

1. Quit Smoking-Help for Teenagers
By
http://2stopsmokingtips.com

2. Introduction
• If you’re one of those looking for information
on how to quit smoking for teenagers, please
read this post to the very end as it contains all
you need to know. Enjoy it. Many celebrities
confess to taking up the smoking habit in their
teens. Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and a
couple of others took up smoking right from
their teens and even at 26 and after a few
health challenges, Lindsay still smokes like a
chimney.

3. Teenage Smoking Statistics
• Just like Lindsay got into smoking as a teenager, several
other teenagers get into the habit daily due to various and
sometimes unfathomable reasons. And the statistics are
alarming.
• According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Administration (1994), approximately 6,000 young
people try a cigarette and more than 3,000 children
become regular smokers everyday.
• Michael Mannion in his book: How to Help Your Teenager
Stop Smoking asserts that nearly four million teenagers
smoke, and another 3,000 start each day. “While adult
smoking has declined, the 1990s have witnessed a dramatic
rise in teenage smoking’, he says.

4. Why Teen Smoking Is on the Rise
• In the same vein, the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), says “over 4000 teenagers between
the ages of 12 and 17 become regular smokers
everyday. Half of these teens will become daily
smokers.”
• According to Charles Herrick, Charlotte Herrick,
Marianne Mitchell in the book: 100 Questions &
Answers about How to Quit Smoking, this surge in the
number of teen smokers is due to the fact that “teens
get addicted faster than adults”. Other reasons the
book alluded to include parental smoking, peer
smoking, seeing smoking as cool and easy accessibility
to tobacco products.

5. Reasons Why Teenagers Smoke
• As alarming as teen smoking is, 100 Questions & Answers
about How to Quit Smoking, says smoking among young
adults is the most worrisome as they constitute the group
with the largest numbers of addicted smokers: 44.3% of
those aged between 18 to 25.
• According to Dr David Brizer, in his book, Quitting Smoking
for Dummies, “one big reason that teens smoke is to pump
up their self esteem and self confidence.” As a parent, it’s
therefore your duty to make sure your kids grow up with a
healthy self esteem. If your kids are not confident about
themselves, they will be influenced by their friends who
smoke and adverts that depict cigarettes as passports to
being ‘cool’.

6. Reasons Why Teenagers Smoke(2)
• Yet another reason why teenagers smoke is to
avoid weight gain. Many teenagers and young
adults erroneously believe preventing weight
gain is possible through smoking. And so, they
keep puffing only to discover it does not,
according to this report.
• Teenagers who have smoking parents would
most likely smoke and that is another reason
teenagers pick up the smoking habit.

7. Reasons Why Teenagers Smoke(3)
• To fit in and feel ‘cool’ among friends, some
teenagers pick the smoking habit.
• Yet another reason why teenagers get into
smoking is the fact that celebrities who they
look up to as role models smoke. They
(teenagers) reason along these line: If I adore
an actor and want to be like him, whatever he
does is cool and if he is having fun smoking,
why can’t I?

8. It’s Hard to Quit for Teenagers
• While teenagers get into smoking through all
sorts of reasons, a recent study indicated it’s hard
to quit the smoking habit is just as hard for
teenagers as it is for adults.
• The study made available online Sept. 4 in the
journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research discovered
that young people who are new to smoking
experience similar negative psychological effects
when they attempt to quit as people who’ve
smoked for years. Scientists at Brown University
conducted the research.

9. How Then Can Teenagers Be Helped
to Quit Smoking?
• Parents, schools and the society have a role to
play in this regard.
• Parents should spend quality time with their
teenage smokers and vehemently discourage
tobacco use but threats won’t help in this
situation. Instead, a lot of convincing and
appealing must be employed. Allow your teen
smoker say his reasons for smoking and gently
counteract each and every reason he gives.

10. How Then Can Teenagers Be Helped
to Quit Smoking?(2)
• Make him understand the dangers of smoking. And
without being harsh, assist him in setting a quit
date, provide self-help materials, encourage him to
think of the health benefits of quitting and monitor his
peer relationships.
• Encourage him to exercise frequently as an American
Academy of Pediatrics report investigated the
advantage of adding exercise to some teen smoking
cessation programs. After the research, the AAP found
that those teens who involved in physical workout had
a greater chance of cessation at 24 weeks. This was
particularly evident among the male folk.

11. How Then Can Teenagers Be Helped
to Quit Smoking?(3)
• Also, do a bit of calculation and come up with the exact
figure your teen is expending on cigarettes in a week,
month, and possibly, a year. And try to convince him or
her to quit for just a week and invest the money in a
gift he had always wanted. That can motivate him to
quit. After that first week, convincing him or her
becomes much easier.
• If you realize in your interaction with your teen smoker
that he is smoking because of lack of self confidence,
try to involve him in activities that’ll help boost his self
esteem and make him understand that he can live a full
life without cigarettes.

12. How Then Can Teenagers Be Helped
to Quit Smoking?(4)
• While trying to help your teen get over smoking, please
be a good example to him. You cannot give what you
don’t have. You can’t expect your teen smoker to stop
smoking while you’re actively smoking.
• William L. Fibkins in his book: What Schools Should Do
to Help Kids Stop Smoking, encourages schools to
implement school -based tobacco prevention and
intervention programs modeled after successful
tobacco intervention programs like the Great American
Smoke Out, CDC’s Project TNT, the American Medical
Association GAPS program, and so many other
successful community intervention programs.

13. How Then Can Teenagers Be Helped
to Quit Smoking?(5)
• The society should provide a clean and smoke-free
environment for these teen smokers. It helps to
strengthen their resolve to quit and stay smoke-free.
There should also be advertising controls so that
adverts that portray smoking as the passport to a fuller
life can be eradicated. The society should celebrate and
highlight celebrities who have successfully quit so
these teens can see that smoking is truly dangerous.
• For further help, please download CDC’s ebook on
preventing tobacco use among youth and the young
adult.

14. References:
• Quitting Smoking Just as Hard for Teens: Study;
HealthDay News; FRIDAY, Sept. 14
• 100 Questions & Answers About How to Quit Smoking;
Charles Herrick, Charlotte Herrick, Marianne Mitchell;
Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Sep 22, 2009
• Quitting Smoking For Dummies; David Brizer, M.D. ;
John Wiley & Sons, May 4, 2011
• How to Help Your Teenager Stop Smoking; Michael
Mannion; Welcome Rain Publishers, Apr 1, 2000
• What Schools Should Do to Help Kids Stop Smoking;
William L. Fibkins; Eye on Education, Jan 1, 2000

15. Thanks for Reading!!!
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