Teen Smokers Cannot Quit Easily

The latest report from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that increasing numbers of American teenagers become addicted to nicotine because they cannot easily quit the habit. Despite the fact that they have a very short experience with smoking, they find it very difficult to kick it, and they get little help to do so from authorities, counselors, or parents. In addition, peer pressure is one of the main factors that prevent them from quitting the habit, Reuters reports.

“Despite their relatively short smoking histories, many adolescents who smoke are nicotine dependent, and such dependence can lead to daily smoking,” the CDC experts say in their latest weekly bulletin on illnesses and deaths. The study that yielded these conclusions was conducted in 2007, on some 14,041 high-school children in the US, and was part of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. During this investigation, kids are investigated once every two years, and research on the threats to their health are conducted at a national, state and local level.

The investigation revealed that 60.9 percent of the children who reported that they smoked during the studies tried to quit the habit, but only 12.2 percent of them were successful. This is a very low rate for such a serious type of addiction, CDC experts point out. They have also announced that there are very few factors that show an influence on the quitting tobacco success rate. That is to say, the only statistical correlation that appeared obvious to the team was that between success rates and age. 30 percent of those who managed to stop smoking did so in the 9th grade, while, in the 12th grade, only ten percent succeeded in kicking the habit.

“These data suggest the importance of targeting young smokers with cessation counseling while their likelihood of success in quitting is greatest. Furthermore, current best practices recommend that, to prevent youths from starting to smoke, states establish and sustain comprehensive tobacco control programs that increase excise taxes, promote smoke-free air policies, and conduct media campaigns in conjunction with other community-based interventions, such as tobacco-use prevention programs in schools that include school policy and education components,” the study authors also mention in the paper.