Smoking among Teenagers - Research Paper Example

?INTRODUCTION Smoking among teenagers is a result of peer pressure, teenage blues, family problems or lack of social acceptance generally. Teenage isa very tender age when boys and girls are still growing physically and emotionally. It is said that character building starts from teenage and the children who go wayward in teenage can never be on the right track later in life. 90% of the smokers start smoking before the age of twenty-one. During teenage, smokers quickly get addicted to smoking and alcohol and their brain also shows resistance to treatment (Feinstein, 2009). Addiction to smoking during teenage can be long-term in nature due to this resistance. Not only this but also a teen’s exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of metabolic syndrome. Smoking during the teenage impacts the teenager’s overall health, lung efficiency, reduces concentration span as a result of which his or her academic performance is hampered. Youth is that period of our lives where our mind and body are at their peaks but smoking during teenage deprives one of giving one’s best performance in all walks of life (Hales, 2009-2010). The hazards of teenage smoking and its causes can be traced to the determinants of health as per the ecological model. THE ECOLOGICAL MODEL The ecological perspective on health includes individual and environmental factors. The ecological model stresses that for community assessment, it is important to look beyond individual factors and also incorporate organizational and community factors. As per the ecological model, behavior at the individual level is influenced by biological, physiological, psychological and emotional states. The psychological aspect of teenage smoking is that teenagers have it at the back of their mind that smoking makes them more ‘cool’ and mature. Many a times a teenager tries the first puff just to imitate his or her favorite celebrity. The social and cultural beliefs of family, friends and peers comprise of the interpersonal level. Smoking behavior of a teen is influenced by family: for instance if one of the parents smokes, then the child tends to smoke too. Heredity is the main biological factor: for instance women who smoke during pregnancy are indirectly making their unborn children prone to nicotine. These children develop a liking for nicotine and also show quick addiction. Friends are part family members and usually a teen is more influenced by friends than by his family. Many teenagers testify that their friends forced them to take the first puff (Harris, 2010). The physiological factors for teenage smoking will include nicotine metabolism and excretion. Cultural beliefs are very correctly depicted in the promotions of the Marlboro Man (McLeroy, 1988). At the organizational and community level, economic, physical and structural factors influence behavior. This level encompasses educational programs, mass media, counseling, support groups and organizational incentives. Public policy is another domain at which assessment can be done for a community. The Public Policy shows the state’s stance on health and related issues. For instance public service messages against teenage smoking and awareness programs come under public policy. Not only this but also public policy includes national laws for teenage smoking like a ban on selling cigarettes to a minor (Harris, 2010). Relationships with family, friends, neighbors, contacts at work, and acquaintances form the interpersonal processes which influence health behaviors. These relationships are particularly more influential in a teenager’s life as his mind is vulnerable and he tends to adopt common behavior in his surroundings. The way a teenager deals with stress is also influenced by these relationships. If an adult smokes excessively during stress than his teenage son would do the same under stress. If the same interpersonal relationships can provoke a teenager to smoke then they can also work as support systems in times of stress and rehabilitation (for smoking or alcohol addicts). However if a teenager has knowledge about the hazards of smoking because of family’s environment or when no one smokes in the family then this teenager will strongly resist smoking. A teenager needs these relationships to fall back on in times of emotional breakdowns. Teenagers who are more expressive about their problems and tensions resort to sharing them with family or friends rather than going for smoking or alcoholism. Thus experts encourage parents to befriend their children so that the children do not keep their problems bottled up or turn addicts. Interpersonal interventions also help a teen quit smoking (McLeroy, 1988). When a teenager is socially isolated and has no friends at his school then he will end up smoking or consuming alcohol to vent out his frustration and depression. Such teenagers have incessant periods of gloom and depression. They find cigarettes and alcohol to be their only best friends. The bullies of school are the ones in power and in order to show their aggressiveness they smoke, drink alcohol and break as many rules as possible. The other school children who fear these bullies have the perception that by adopting the bully’s style they will also become strong and authoritative. If the bully is involved in vandalism or smoking, then the victims will also destroy school property or smoke (McLeroy, 1988). Organizational settings consume half our life time. Schools (primary and secondary both), universities and work place all come under the umbrella of organizational settings. The environment of these organizations affects the health behavior of people. For instance if smoking is prevalent in a teenager’s school, then he is very much prone to smoke sooner or later. Secondly if education at a school or university is very stressful and rigorous then a teenager might start smoking to release stress. These organizations can positively channel their influence on teenagers by creating awareness about the harmful effects of smoking. School teachers can mentor students and help them cope with stress in other forms rather than smoking. If teenagers are forbidden from doing something, their rebellious nature makes them go for that forbidden thing more. So instead of strictly forbidding smoking, teachers and school authorities should try to have friendly one-to-one counseling sessions with students. This will be a more effective strategy than implementing strict rules and regulations. Organizations can also make use of incentives to make people quit smoking. Schools can incentivize students to make them quit smoking e.g. free coupons for frozen yoghurt or ice cream (McLeroy, 1988). Community factors also exert some influence on health behavior of individuals. Community is any group of people living in a geographic location. Community can include relationship among local schools or organizations. A community has many building blocks such as family, friends, informal social networks, neighborhoods and religious sects. Communities can also be seen as power structures that shape the health behavior of its members. Communities approve or disapprove issues to be on the public agenda. Teenage smoking can be on the public agenda if a particular community (like Hispanics) supports it. Smoking is a health and economic issue both. It is an economic issue to tobacco companies and a health issue to doctors. So health programs directed at reducing smoking will have two-pronged effects, economic and health-related both. Designers of health programs need to weigh both these effects before implementing them. Health programs within a community often cannot access the outliers who are the poor, drug addicts, smokers or the terminally ill. These outliers are so absorbed in their own problems that they cannot participate in the programs aimed at benefitting the community at large. These outliers need help themselves so health programs should specifically focus on these outliers. Representatives should be selected from these outliers or disadvantaged groups so that these groups are not sidelined. These representatives can help outliers in benefitting from health programs (McLeroy, 1988). Public policy protects the health of a community by passing laws, implementing procedures and policies. Between 1900 and 1973 there was a fall in mortality in the United States because public policy introduced reforms such as more water supply, sanitation, food quality, pasteurization of milk and housing. Likewise public policy can also come up with policies and rules to reduce smoking. For prevention of teenage smoking public policy can pass laws such as banning of smoking in school premises, ban on sale of cigarettes to minors, heavy taxes on tobacco and developing health promotion centers at schools and universities. If tobacco is heavily taxed then this will automatically pull up the prices of cigarettes. Increase in cigarette prices has more influence on unemployed teenagers than working adults since teenagers sustain on pocket money (McLeroy, 1988). LEVELS OF PREVENTION Following are the three levels of prevention: 1. Primary Prevention: is preventing a disease or disorder before it happens. Primary prevention includes health promotion, health education and health protection. Diseases or disorders can also be prevented at other levels by doing primary prevention activities at the prenatal stage, school health education, and at home/workplace. Health measures taken by the state such as sanitation, infection controls, immunization, and protection of food, milk and water are all primary prevention activities. At the individual level, the primary prevention measures would be personal hygiene, washing hands regularly and disposing of garbage properly. The main causes of deaths in the United States and many other countries are smoking, alcoholism, mental health problems and accidents. If these causes of deaths are prevented beforehand then something as serious as death would not occur. Influencing individual behavior and protecting the environment are integral parts of primary prevention. If primary prevention activities are seriously done then there will be less dependence on physicians and rehabilitation centers. If awareness about teenage smoking is created then there will be lesser chances of lung cancer in the future. There are two types of primary prevention: active prevention and passive prevention. Active primary prevention includes behavior change on the part of individual while passive primary prevention does not include behavior change on the part of individual (M.Merrill, 2006). 2. Secondary Prevention: includes activities that help in detecting diseases. If the ability to cause diseases (pathogenicity) is identified initially then diagnosis and treatment can slow down the rate at which the disease/disorder/disability is spreading across the population and also lower mortality. For example if lung cancer due to smoking is detected at its early stage then it would come under secondary prevention (M.Merrill, 2006). 3. Tertiary Prevention: is the final stage of prevention. In this the disease/disorder/disability is stopped from reaching its zenith and causing death. A disease is prevented from spreading further. Tertiary prevention comes in when the disease/disorder/disability has already occurred and done damage. The purpose of this form of prevention is also to reduce the dependence of sufferers on health care and doctors. At this stage of tertiary prevention, it should also be borne in mind that the disease does not occur again. This is ensured by patient education, rehabilitation, post-treatment recovery, prompt diagnosis and recovery. If lung cancer is stopped from spreading further and it is ensured that it does not recur, then this would come under tertiary prevention (M.Merrill, 2006). CONCLUSION Teenage smoking fits in perfectly in the ecological model of health. Teenage smoking is an outcome of prenatal smoking, family environment, peer pressure and stress. A teenager is very vulnerable to social and community pressures, there is resistance to quitting and addiction is very quick during teenage. Family members, school teachers and the state should educate teenagers about the hazards of smoking. Instead of imposing strict rules at school and home, friendly counseling sessions should be held to make teenagers realize how dangerous smoking is in the long run. If adequate attention is given to teenage smoking at school, family, organizational and community level, then its detrimental effects can be prevented. The three stages of prevention (that is primary, secondary and tertiary) can prove to be very helpful at each level that the tobacco addict is at. Some of these stages are for preventing a disease before it happens, while some stop it from spreading further and recurring. Teenage smoking is not unbeatable, through corrective measures and effective strategies, it can be defeated globally. Bibliography Feinstein, S. (2009). Inside the Teenage Brain. Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield Education . Hales, D. (2009-2010). An Invitation to Health. Belmont: Yolanda Cossla. Harris, M. J. (2010). Evaluating Public and Community Health Programs . San Francisco: Jossey Bass. M.Merrill, R. (2006). Introduction to Epidemiology. London: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. McLeroy, K. R. (1988, Winter 1988). An Ecological Perspective on Health Promotion Programs. Health Education Quaterly. 351-377. Read More