Smoking Influences on College Students
College students, especially freshmen, are impressionable. For many, this is their first time living away from Mom and Dad, and the rules that once were so strictly enforced are no longer there. As well, peer pressure is greater as they try to fit in and make friends, and that includes the pressure to smoke.
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Curiosity
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Once students leave the confines of their parents' house, they start to wonder about all those things Mom and Dad told them they could never do. Don't run with scissors. Don't stay up past 10. Don't stay out past midnight. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Now that they're living on their own, college students like to try new things, to test the boundaries. Often, this leads to them trying cigarettes or cigars. This taste test may lead to addiction if they're not careful.
Movies
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As students grow older and start watching more R-rated films, they start to see more movie stars smoking in them. Movies, especially independent films, which are popular among college students, tend to glorify smoking, and this makes students wonder what it's like.
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Pre-21
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Before college students turn 21, the legal drinking age and bar age of most college towns in the United States, smoking is one of the few legal illicit activities they can engage in, and this piques their interest. Students often enjoy going to coffee shops and smoking while they drink their coffee and discuss the latest book they read, album they listened to or movie they watched. This may be less so the case in cities and states that ban smoking in public places, but if students can't go out and drink coffee and smoke, they'll find an apartment to gather in.
Post-21
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Twenty-one. It's the golden age for college students. They can smoke, vote, buy porn and finally, now, they can drink. Under the influence of alcohol, even students who vowed they would never smoke may feel less inhibited and more willing to try a cigarette. Their friends who are already smokers may lay the pressure on while drinking, telling them that it tastes even better while drunk.
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References
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