Several reasons are there for it, but peer pressure is also one of them. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Peers are people who are part of the same social group, so the term "peer pressure" means the influence that peers can have on each other. They believe that their child might be able to resist the pressure their friends put them through. He outlines the variety of quitting methods, the pros and cons of the different options, and the support and advice available. The reason peer pressure works is because sometimes you feel like being accepted by your friends is the most important thing in the world. As a PSHE teacher, your students will be faced by an increase in cyber-bullying, body image worries and a host of other issues, so you may feel like smoking is less of a concern than it was in previous years. The reasons they start are complex, ranging from peer pressure to behavioural problems. They simply can not give up the habit. They do not want to be isolated and in order to be part of the social circuit they smoke. All Like alcohol, smoking is also forced upon a person by either making fun of him for not doing so or reminding him or her that he or she is missing out on something. Socially, a person feels that he or she must smoke in order to impress upon others and not be left out from the social circuit. Of course, men and women of lower strata of the society also smoke, perhaps the cheaper variety of cigarettes or bidis. Role of Advertisements on Smoking Habits Several heroines and heroes are shown in advertisements smoking and this also influences the younger lot, who begin to smoke after seeing them smoke. Being at an impressionable age, they tend to do what the majority does. Smoking is preferred to feel relaxed and be relieved of day-to day tensions as well as other worries that plague our lives. This resource is designed for UK teachers. google_ad_client: "ca-pub-1758024088335509", Even actresses come across as being seductive when they smoke. They are easily influenced and like to do what is considered to be the “in thing” in society, be it smoking cigarettes or pot. They cajole them in trying out a fag or two, which is how a person gets hooked to it. ScienceDirect ® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V. ScienceDirect ® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V. The most obvious reason as to why teenagers start smoking is peer pressure. Peer influence has long been known as a major risk factor for adolescent smoking, but findings have varied about how big the risk is or how this dynamic unfolds. Children are more likely to take up smoking if they live with people who smoke. Efforts are on to ban such advertisements, although they fetch a lot of revenue to the tobacco industry. Adolescents reported low levels of both normative and direct pressure to smoke cigarettes. But the question that arises in our minds is why does a smoker start smoking? Often both the parents are smokers, and teenagers naturally like to do what their parents are doing. Other resources by this author. Many of the teenagers are influenced by their parental smoking habits. The major findings were that pathways representing modeling and normative pressure to smoke had roughly equal impact on adolescent smoking. Anti-smoking campaigns have been organized to make smokers realize that smoking can be injurious to their health and that they should give up the habit. We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content and ads. Finally, adolescents who were experimenting with smoking or were smokers overestimated the amount of smoking by their best friends. Four dimensions of peer pressure were discovered and were found to relate differentially to adolescent smoking. Many young teenagers like to smoke the same brand as their favorite hero. A person feels that he or she gains in social status by lighting a cigarette. They are introduced to the habit by their friends. Personal, social and health education; Personal, social and health education / About you ; 7-11; View more. Read about our approach to external linking. Report a problem. They make fun of them if they are nonsmokers. Learn how your comment data is processed. Smoking adolescents appear to see the peer group, not as encouraging them to smoke, but as not providing any discouragement for smoking. They want to feel like a “macho man”since their hero happens to be holding a cigarette in his hand and letting out smoke in a daring manner.