Introduction
Nicotine addiction among teenagers has recently become one of the most pressing problems in the modern American society. Overall, the attempts made by anti-smoking campaigners hardly yield any results, because they mostly focus on harmfulness of tobacco smoking and the publics’ awareness of the problem, itself, but they do not eradicate the underlying causes of teenage smoking. It is possible to single out three factors that contribute to teenage addiction to nicotine. The considerable shift in social and political thought should be made in order to eliminate these factors. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that it cannot be done it by compulsion. Perhaps it would more prudent to illustrate this statement.
The underlying causes of teenage smoking and possible solutions
Accessibility of tobacco products. Children can easily purchase cigarettes in vending machines, and in this case, no one can prevent them from doing it. Additionally, every shop places tobacco products in the forefront, which certainly attracts the attention of the would-be buyer (such technique can be applied not only to children or teenagers, but also to adults). Tobacco manufactures produce such commercials that make smoking look fashionable or even attractive.
Anti-smoking campaigners state that tobacco products should be made more expensive. Such method can be effective; however, it may arouse a wave of protest from manufactures, because the government cannot prohibit them to display their products. As regards price increase, it should be mentioned that such policy can have adverse effects on the economy of the country. Many amendments to the existing legislation should be made, in order to implement such policy. The measures that have already been taken can only reduce the effects of the advertising campaign, though they cannot eliminate the root cause, accessibility of tobacco products.
The impact of parents. It is estimated that approximately seventy three percent of teenagers, addicted to nicotine, have smoking parents. Psychologists believe, that we are inclined to emulate the behavior of our parents (at least subconsciously). The major problem is that very often parents do not realize that they incite their children to smoke. As the Department of Health states, various programs should be launched in order to increase parents awareness of this fact. It is believed that educators can make a considerable contribution, because they can influence not only the students but also their parents.
The influence of popular culture. As it has already been mentioned earlier, we tend to emulate the behavior of other people. Recent researches have proved that there is direct relation between nicotine addiction among teenagers and the tendencies in modern pop culture. Unwillingly some of Hollywood stars make smoking habits almost fashionable. For instance, when John Travolta smokes on television, smoking, itself inevitable becomes an inseparable part of the so-called “cool” behavior. The power that popular icons exercise over the unmolded minds of the young generation is immense. However, the government can hardly affect film industry, because such intervention verges on censorship and it can be viewed as the violation of the Fourth Amendment. It is considered that some of these films, featuring movie stars smoking should rated as R. However, such measures can make Hollywood production literally unavailable, to teenagers.
Conclusions
Now, that the major causes of cause of teenage smoking are identified, it is quite possible to conclude that the government is not able to eradicate all of them by force, the only possible solution is to increase public awareness of the problem, especially parents. Moreover, popular icons should understand that their behavior often drives children or teenagers to smoking. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that the existing legislation cannot change current situation.