For many teenagers, the pressure to smoke may be overwhelming. Peer pressure and the belief that smoking looks “cool” can quickly motivate an older child or teen to take that first drag on a cigarette. While a few puffs as part of teenage experimentation may seem harmless enough, in reality, it is anything but. A recent study reported in Tobacco Control showed that teens become hooked on tobacco much faster than previously believed - often after smoking just a few cigarettes¹.
Forty percent of the 332 Grade 7 students who had tried smoking reported symptoms of addiction. For reasons that are not too clear, girls appear to become hooked on nicotine much faster than boys. The teenage girls in the study took an average of only three weeks to become hooked, while half the boys were hooked within six months. Some young people became addicted within a few days.
Communicating with your child about the dangers of cigarette smoking is the single most impactful thing you can do in terms of stopping him from smoking. A U.S. study of school children in Grades 7 to 12 showed that most teens and pre-teens listen to their parents’ concerns and act on them, even when they may appear to be tuning out. When non-smoking parents made their concerns known, 69 percent of their children chose not to smoke. This percentage dropped to 53 when the parents did not speak out. In families where the parents smoked, 55 percent of the children never started smoking when the parents voiced their disapproval. This figure dropped to 24 percent when the parents failed to share their concerns².
1. Joseph DiFranza, Judy Savageau, Kenneth Fletcher, Judy Ockene, Nancy Rigotti, Ann McNeill, Mardi Coleman and Connie Wood. The Development of Symptoms of Tobacco Dependence in Youths: 30-Month Follow-Up Data from the DANDY Study. Tobacco Control, 2002 11:228-235.
2. Newman, Ian M.,Ward, Jolene M., The Influence of Parental Attitude and Behaviour on Early Adolescent Cigarette Smoking. Journal of School Health, Vol, 59., No. 4, 1989.