Tobacco is a plant native to the Western Hemisphere. It contains nicotine, which is a poisonous alkaloid that is the main mood-altering ingredient in tobacco. Cigarette smoke contains alm

With peer pressure for smoking cigarettes as strong as ever, teens want to get them to fit in. Cigarettes are easily accessible for teens if their parents smoke, or they can even buy them at the store. “Cigarettes are readily available to these underage youth. Of the 8th graders, most of whom are 13 to 14 years of age; three-fourths said that they can get cigarettes fairly easily if they want them. By the tenth grade, more than 90% say they can buy cigarettes easily.” With teens able to buy the cigarettes at that age, they will, if it means fitting in and being “cool.”

“In one investigation, high school students were recruited to help seventh grade students resist peer pressure to smoke. The high schools students encouraged the younger adolescents to resist the influence of high-powered ads suggesting that liberated women smoke by saying. ‘She is not liberated if she is hooked on tobacco.’ The students also engaged in role playing exercises called ‘chicken.’ In these situations, the high school students called the younger adolescents ‘chicken’ for not trying a cigarette. The seventh graders practiced resistance to the peer pressure by saying, ‘I’d be a real chicken if I just smoked to impress you.’ Following several sessions, the students in the smoking prevention group were 50% less likely to begin smoking compared to a group of seventh grade students

Some topics in this essay:
John Santrock, , Sandra Alters, Steven Roberts, Eileen Heyes, Health Service, Western Hemisphere, United Adolescents, peer pressure, Vietnam War, start smoking, smoking peer, smoking peer pressure, try cigarette age, choose smoke fit, seventh grade, grade students, consequences smoking, adolescent smokers, begin smoking, seventh grade students, die smoking related, smoke fit, students smoking,