Sorry for Smoking: Causes and a Treatment of Teenage Smoking

Introduction

Sometimes the most obvious problems society faces are simultaneously the most difficult to solve. Smoking appears to be one such problem. There are 4 million deaths associated with smoking annually worldwide (Lenney and Enderby). Because hooking consumers on nicotine—the drug contained in cigarettes and other tobacco products—requires convincing consumers to try them at a young age, tobacco companies continue to direct their marketing, advertisements, and strategies towards adolescents in general, and teenagers in particular (Lenney and Enderby 2008). For the most part, tobacco companies have been successful. For example, 70% of movies in the United States feature smoking prominently (Heatherton and Sargent 63). Experts who have looked for ways to combat the problem of teenage smoking have discovered that age, experimentation, and having friends or family who smoke all contribute to the likelihood that a teenager will try smoking (Lenney and Enderby; Miller, Burgoon, Grandpre, and Alvaro). By examining each factor that contributes to a teenager to begin smoking, it becomes easier to find solutions that may prove successful in preventing smoking.

Age

Age is a “…significant predictor of teenage smoking” (Miller, Burgoon, Grandpre, and Alvaro 246). The younger a consumer is, the more susceptible they are to trying smoking, which makes tobacco companies desire to market to teenagers. In fact, teenagers who see smoking in the media at high levels are three times as likely as teenagers who do not see it as often (Heatherton and Sargent). Yet despite government regulations limiting advertising to teenagers, tobacco companies utilize media, such as television and movies, to expose the youth to smoking (Heatherton and Sargent; Lenney and Enderby). However, they are able to place cigarettes in the mouths of celebrities and in film through covert advertising (Lenney and Enderby). Since tobacco companies realize that their best chance at hooking new customers is at an early age, they count on hooking adolescents on nicotine through media exposure. As a result of the media exposure to tobacco products that teenagers still experience, “80% of teenager smokers show nicotine dependence” (Lenney and Enderby 73). Absent strong education or a better plan, adolescents who try smoking may have a difficult time kicking the habit.

Experimentation

Besides being targeted through limited direct marketing and more subtle exposure to tobacco use, teenagers often fall into a smoking habit through brief experimentations with the habit (Lenney and Enderby; Miller, Burgoon, Grandpre, and Alvaro). Part of what makes tobacco use so harmful is that “…one third of experimenters progress to established smoking” (Miller, Burgoon, Grandpre, and Alvaro 242). When one considers the limited amount of time needed to turn smoking from experimentation to a habit, it makes sense why the industry seeks to influence teenagers so heavily just to try their product. Aside from being exposed to smoking in media or in advertisements, teenagers are often exposed to the habit by witnessing it through their peers or family.

Peers and Family Exposure

Although family rules and structure are important in determining how likely a teenager is to begin smoking (Buswell and Duncan 2012), actually witnessing the act of smoking from a friend or family member is a much higher predictor of whether a teenager begins smoking (Miller, Burgoon, Grandpre, and Alvaro). It is hypothesized that the reason why a teenager is more influenced by a family member’s behavior, rather than by a family member’s rules is that modeling the act of smoking tends to make the act seem more natural, healthy, and acceptable (Buswell and Duncan). Modeling the behavior cues the teenager that smoking—while unhealthy in the abstract—is acceptable in reality. Of course, friends of teenagers may often influence their decision to begin smoking in much the same way as seeing family members smoke. However, with friends, teenagers often experience the element of peer pressure, a further factor in a teen’s decision to begin smoking (Lenney and Enderby).

Psychological Reactance: A Potential Treatment for Teenage Smoking?

Psychological reactance is the “…variable response to an environmental state” (Miller et al 243). In other words, it is a reaction to a teenager’s social environment. When considering how to prevent teenagers from smoking (or how to help them quit), it makes sense to look at an individual’s psychological reactance or individual reaction to their environment to craft a strategy, rather than a one-size-fits-all treatment to extinguishing a smoker's behavior. Since teenagers’ attitudes towards smoking and the importance of quitting smoking change over time, using something like psychological reactance as a tool appears to be more flexible and effective (Buswell and Duncan). Of course, individual treatment plans are more costly in terms of time and money, but to tackle a problem as large and as important as teenage smoking, this solution is well worth the effort.

Works Cited

Buswell, Marina, and Duncan, Peter. “Ambivalence and Fluidity in the Teenage Smoking and Quitting Experience: Lessons from a Qualitative Study at an English Secondary School.” Health Education Journal, 72.4 (2012): 408-416.

Heatherton, Todd, and Sargent, James. “Does Watching Smoking in Movies Promote Teenage Smoking?” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18.2 (2009): 63-67.

Lenney, Warren, and Enderby, Beth. “Blowing in the Wind: A Review of Teenage Smoking.” Archives of Disease in Childhood, 93 (2008): 72-75.

Miller, Claude, Burgoon, Michael, Grandpre, Joseph, and Alvaro, Eusebio. “Identifying Principal Risk Factors for the Initiation of Adolescent Smoking Behaviors: The Significance of Psychological Reactance.” Health Communication, 19.3 (2006): 241-252.