How to Reduce Smoking Among Adolescents

About one in four teenagers choose to smoke cigarettes.

In adults who smoke cigarettes, nearly all of them first began using tobacco before high school graduation. Despite understanding the negative effects of tobacco, about one in four teenagers choose to smoke. There are massive campaigns at the state and federal levels to help reduce teen smoking, and added taxes and price hikes do help. However, as a parent, you have a strong influence. If you can help your teen resist the temptation to smoke before the age of 18, odds are she'll never pick up the habit.

Instructions

1. Talk to your teenager about smoking. When you understand where your teenager might be looking to fit in, you can understand the doors that might be open to the use of tobacco. Encourage good behavior with positive praise.

2. Take a stand. Make sure your teenager knows that you don't approve of smoking. Even if you think your adolescent isn't listening to you, your message sinks in more than you think.

3. If you're a smoker, put down your cigarette. If you don't smoke, keep it that way. Teenagers who have parents that smoke are more likely to pick up the habit themselves.

4. Remind your teenager about the unattractive qualities of smoking. Bad breath, yellow teeth, smelly clothes and chronic cough just might be enough to turn your teenagers off to the idea of smoking.

5. Add up the cost of the smoking habit, and share that information with your teenager. Understanding the financial impact is another deterrent to teenage smoking.

6. Role play with your teenager to give practice at saying no. If you walk through this situation together, your teenager will be better-equipped to say no when approached by a peer who smokes.

7. Address the serious nature of a smoking habit. Teens can become addicted to nicotine, making it a habit that's very difficult to quit. Smoking can also cause serious health problems like heart disease, lung cancer and stroke. Use real-life examples to show these potential consequences to your teen by talking to friends, neighbors and loved ones who have one of these problems now because they smoked cigarettes.

8. Support community opportunities to oppose teen smoking. Openly supporting public-smoking bans and participating in school-sponsored efforts to reduce teen smoking will set a good example for your teenager.

References

• American Cancer Society
• Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research