Teens And Smoking Essay -- essays research papers

Teens and Smoking Abstract Cigarette smoking is of interest to the National Institute on Drug Abuse both because of the public health problems associated with this form of substance abuse and because this behavior represents a prototypic dependence process. In the past few years the government has made every effort to reach the masses, in an attempt to curb the exploitation of tobbacco use, and its acceptance among Americas Youngsters. However, cigarette smoking among adolescents is on the rise. The premise that the behavior of adolescents is influenced by the behavior of their parents is central to many considerations of health and social behavior (Ausubel, Montemayor, & Svajiian, 1977; Bandura & Walters, 1963). Many young people between 10-18 years of age experiment with smoking, smoking is a personal choice, and usually exploratory in nature. Typically, it takes place in rather young people and is largely dependent on: first, the availability of opportunity to engage in the behavior, second, having a fairly high degree of curiosity about the effects of the behavior; third, in finding it a way of expressing either conformity to the behavior or others (such as parents, older siblings or peers), forth, as in "Miller and Dollar's" explanation of Observational Learning, The Copying behavior effect. This research is to examine the effects of parental smoking (behavior), has, on the decision of teens to smoke cigarettes. Due to prior studies using global measures that may or may not include South Eastern North Carolina. The Fayetteville/Fort Bragg area was chosen for this study to pinpoint the effects in this particular locale. Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base have a very diverse socieo-economic and culturally diverse population, which will have a positive effect on randomness of sample selection. With this association in mind, this researcher is interested in knowing if there is a relationship of Parental influence on Teen Smoking within this Military Community. Introduction The prevalence of cigarette smoking among young teenagers is a growing problem in the United States, many young people between the ages of 10-18 are experimenting with tobacco. During the 1040's and 50's smoking was popular and socially acceptable. Movie stars, sports heroes, and celebrities appeared in cigarette advertisements that ... ...ribution statistics will be used to identify significant differences between sub samples. References Bauman, K. E., Foshee, V. A., Linzer, M. A., Koch, G. G. (1990). Effect of parental smoking classification on the association between parental and adolescent smoking. Addictive-behaviors, 15,(5), 413-422. Horevitz, M. J., (1985). Disasters and psychological responses to stress. Psychiatric Annals, 15, 161-167. Hu, F. B. Flak, B. R., Hedeker, D. (1995). The inlfuence of friends and parental smoking on adolescent smoking behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, v4 (3), 215-225. Jessor, R. (1993). Successful adolescent development among high-risk settings, American Psychologist, 48, 117-126. Johnston, L., O'Malley, P., Bachman, J. (1988). Drug use among American high school students, College students and other young adults. National trends through 1991. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Research Monograph Series, (1979). Cigarette Smoking as a dependence Process. National Institute on Drug Abuse. 23