Tobacco Documents Online

S WHY YOUNG PEOPLE BEGIN SMOKING A ~ ti-smoking advocates and govemment r,-~ear~-~ ers have long acknowledged c'riat rarnuv and peers are the pnmarv on sr^,c:ung b%S:o inz peo>3ie. :':~z .:ec- or c: ::.< :'atlonai ;c~snracc ~~f ~:-iid :?ealth ~^d H.;.-:.an J~. N:ovment betore L_~ngress put ,r;unp:,, -he most rorcerui u.term;,.an;s or rokin ;;?~- ", oung Feoplel are parents, peers a;1G ol :er ~:o~iSl~s. ":,ese lrfluences, ~.L-,likc the asserted i -~Iuence • 1)t c:garette au~ e-nsu~~, have ceen ~<<oa n to be ^oth ~ uwNrt•.1 and direct. A nar..;nal study nubLished by thr FrJrrdl kovernr,lesu in 1992 rtiports. "The smoking practices of older brothers or sisrers living at n,.me were more closeiv ass(xiated with teen*ger smoking than was parental smoking. Thirty percent of adole~icer!u reported currentiv smokLng in nomes wnere ontv older siblings smoked, compared witn 15 penent of teensgers from homes where only their parents smoked." "..1,s expected, the smoking pattems fur both teenage boys arui girls were highly correlated w-ith the 3moking practices of their closest friends. Teenagers with no best friends of the same sex who smoked, s-eldom smoked ;about 3 petcent). However, aimost half of adolescents with at least two best friends who smoked were smokers dhemseives," the report said. A fourcountry survey conducted by the World Heaith Orgaruzation (WHO) ft:rther provides support for the influences of peers and family as the most forceful determinants of youth smoking. r The WHO study, published in 1986, reported: "Studies of zvhy people start smoking identify the influences of parents, siblings, and friends as the most important causal factors." THE PRFSD"c v,,'s C,,L'\'cP_ oF Eco\OMIc AJV'Soks "when young people start s:noking, the most important predictor is the smoking betravior and smoking-reiated activities of 'significant others' " "The strongeyt statistical relationstups act? found with the smoking habits of the best friend." The survey also found trat smoking among school children is "strongly related to the number of smokers in the familv" Peers and family members have been repeatedly demonstrated to play a key role in smoking by young people. Cigarette advertising, on the other hand, has not. Advertising was listed by one percent of respon- dents in 1991- and not listed at all in 1993 - in a Gallup survey as the principle influence on the decision to smoke. Peer pressure and family influence were cited by almost three-quarters of respondents as the major factors. (continued on back) For mure detailt,d informatinn on this issue and otht,rs, LoriLIot us .it , 1-8()U-424-YSis,. C., .~-,>..

S ,,JvertLsi,tS ~Se magazine cc;r,missioned a -~urvey Ln 1992 that reported, despite high recognition of Ligarette advertising, nine of ten youngsters thought smoking was "gross." T?1e ^resident of u e research said, "~~.v)e'd haVe `o interpret ~ us to sati that cigarette advert;sing i: ce:*.air~v reach:ng die eves of voeu;g chuldren. (but) i"on't knotiti' how you could argue... t"~ at It .auses ~ em to ~moke." • •