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UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INTO YOUTH SMOKING TRENDS
18 TO 24 YEAR OLD ADULTS ARE THE FASTEST GROWING GROUP OF SMOKERS
In 1964, the
U.S. Surgeon General issued the first major report to the public
about the health hazards associated with smoking. More than 35 years
later, an estimated 450,000 Americans still die each year from
smoking-related diseases - claiming more lives than illegal drug
use, AIDS, automobile injuries, fires, homicide and suicide
combined. Like other causes of premature morbidity, smoking-related diseases are highly preventable, especially among younger adults. However, researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health have confirmed that young adults, ages 18 to 24, are now the fastest growing group of smokers. "We used to say if we could prevent children though the age of 18 from smoking, they would never start," says Kenneth Warner, Ph.D., director,U-M Tobacco Research Network. "But there's evidence now that shows that's not true and, in fact, more people are starting to smoke in their late teens and early twenties." According to the American Lung Association, 90 percent of smokers begin smoking before the age of 21, and about 50 percent of the 4,800 adolescent smokers, ages 11 to 17, who smoke their first cigarette today will become regular smokers. |
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Of current smokers, about 20 percent do not smoke on a regular-basis, possibly a result of the changes in our social environment's acceptance of smoking. For example, smokers are restricted from lighting up in schools, at work and in some cases, their own homes. "Now we have people who are not only addicted to nicotine, also but to a smoking pattern," says Warner. "They're able to get by with fewer cigarettes because they condition themselves to the social circumstances in which they're living." Whether or not a person smokes one day or seven days a week, he or she is still at risk for smoking-related diseases, with an increased risk for those who begin smoking at an early age. Children who start smoking before the age of 15 more likely to develop cancer later in life than a non-smoker. And smoking is the leading cause of cancer of the mouth, larynx, throat and esophagus, and has also been linked to cancers of the kidney, bladder and pancreas. |
Smokers of all ages are more prone to develop life-long conditions such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which occurs when the tiny hairs in the lungs, the cilia, are destroyed and tar begins to build up.
Despite repeated health warnings from the Surgeon General, public service announcements and many other successful educational programs about the dangers of smoking, more still needs to be done to prevent children, teenagers and young adults from smoking.
"The tobacco industry is out there working diligently everyday to seduce children and young adults to start smoking and to continue smoking," says Warner. "And it isn't sufficient for parents to just tell their children smoking is bad."
One of the best ways parents can keep their child from being an easy target of tobacco messages and advertising is to educate them about the health hazards associated with smoking. Warner suggests parents emphasize to their children the addictive nature of smoking and how the addiction will persist into adulthood if they start smoking at a young age.
The state of Michigan also is trying to get the message out to the younger generation about the health risks involved with smoking. But Warner says that the state's efforts aren't enough.
"Michigan devotes approximately $8 million to tobacco control efforts," he says. "But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a state of our size should be spending a minimum of $54 million for a comprehensive package of tobacco control programs, including efforts to prevent kids from smoking, as well as efforts to help smokers quit."
And most smokers need the extra push to help them kick the habit, including Therese, who started smoking when she was 16. Now, in her early 20s, Therese has found that nicotine is a hard addiction to beat.
"I really want to quit because I have asthma and I'm a singer," she says. "I know why it's bad for me, but I still smoke because I'm just not ready to quit."
Another young adult, Julie, also has discovered how hard it is to quit smoking after several attempts to do so. "I'd like to quit, but as soon as you say you're going to quit, it consumes every single one of your thoughts and it's impossible," she says.
To prevent teens and young adults from the distress and difficulty involved with kicking the habit, more work needs to be done to discourage them from smoking before they start, says Peter Jacobson, J.D., M.P.H., associate professor, U-M School of Public Health.
"What we need to do is develop a comprehensive program that focuses on discouraging kids from smoking and also brings in adults to show them if they quit smoking, it will help keep their entire family from smoking," he says.
Jacobson further outlines a prevention plan that would include raising cigarette prices and enforcing stricter smoking laws at state and local levels, which includes creating laws that will revoke a vendor's license if he or she sells cigarettes to minors.
Facts about youth smoking:
- An estimated 450,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related
diseases, claiming more lives than illegal drug use, AIDS,
automobile injuries, fires, homicide and suicide combined.
- According to the American Lung Association, 90 percent of smokers begin
smoking before the age of 21.
- Children
who start smoking before the age of 15 are about 20 times more
likely to develop cancer later in life than a non-smoker.
- Michigan devotes approximately $8 million to tobacco control efforts. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a state the size of Michigan should be spending a minimum of $54 million for a comprehensive package of tobacco control programs.
- Does banning smoking in restaurants present any sort of economic risk? In areas where smoking bans are already in place do people eat out less often, and spend less money in restaurants?
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