Most teens can tell you about the dangers of smoking. However, despite their knowledge, a large number of them light their first cigarette everyday. For awhile, studies were showing a sharp decline in the number of teen smokers, but as of lately, numbers reflect a slight incline. Smoking related illness kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, murder, suicide, illegal drugs, and car crashes combined. The majority of all adult smokers, began smoking as a teen. Awareness needs to be made about the effects of smoking in a way that will prevent the experimentation of smoking by teens.
According to teen smoking statistics, about 3,900 teens start smoking everyday. 1,500 of the 3,900 will become regular smokers.
Nine out of ten tobacco users start before they are eighteen years old.
The leading risk factor for teen smoking is having parents who smoke. Less than 2% of smokers have parents who do not smoke.
396,000 smokers, who started smoking as a teen, die each year from smoking related disease.
Each year 800,000 teens pick up a smoking habit that will follow them into adulthood.
Sixty percent of smokers start before the age of thirteen.
Nicotine has the potential of addicting more than 80% of the teens who experiment with it.
An estimated 440,000 people die each year from a smoking related disease.
The majority of teens believe that smoking is more dangerous than drinking. However, some of them do not recognize their own mortality and fail to conceptualize their futures. For this reason, talking to teens about the future health implications of smoking doesn't make much of an impact of their decision making for today. Parents may be the single biggest influence in a teens decision not to smoke. Talk to your teen about smoking. Set a good example and encourage healthy activities that discourage the use of tobacco, such as sports. Appeal to their vanity by discussing how smoking effects personal appearance and hygiene. Although teen smoking is a high risk for early death, it can sometimes be prevented with the right communication.
