Smoking is a tough subject when it comes to substance abuse prevention. Tobacco companies are getting more creative than ever at targeting the young audience in their marketing efforts. It is important to educate our youth on the dangers and negative effects of smoking. Here are some facts and statistics that your kid is likely to listen to.
9 Teenage Smoking Facts and Statistics
1. Nicotine use during adolescence negatively affects brain development. Does your teenager have big college plans? Not if they don’t have the grades to make the cut! Fill them in on the negative effects that tobacco use can have on their brain development.
2. Smoking leads to poor physical performance from decreased lung function.If your child dreams about being the star of the football or softball team then they may be interested to know that smoking can hinder their performance on the field and prevent them from accomplishing their goals.
3. Smoking can fry dopamine receptors, decreasing your sense of pleasure, memory, thinking and awareness.How do you like the sound of that? Exactly. The teenage years are meant to be some of the best of our lives – smoking can take away from the joy of adolescence and hinder your ability to retain memorable moments.
4. 16 million people in the US live with smoking related disfigurements and diseases.
Oh, you didn’t know that smoking could cause these types of adverse reactions? These are the things that we need to be educating our teenagers about.
5. 1,300 people die per day from smoking, which means 9,100 people per week.
This is a disturbing statistic to say the least. What does your teenager want to be when they grow up? If the answer isn’t “just another one of these statistics,” then smoking has no place in their adolescent life.
6. For every vine video you watch, someone dies – tobacco-related deaths happen every 6.5 seconds. Now this is a statistic that your teenager can relate to and hopefully learn from. Is a cigarette really worth someone dying every 6.5 seconds?
7. Approximately 90% of smokers began smoking before the age of 18.
A common misconception among teenagers is that just because they smoke occasionally with their buddies, doesn’t mean they are going to smoke when they grow up – that is a dangerous mindset, according to this statistic.
8. Teenagers who continue to smoke into adulthood can develop infertility and impotence issues later in life.
This statistic can especially hit home with young girls who have been dreaming of becoming a mother since they were little girls – smoking can turn that dream into a nightmare. Is a cigarette worth losing sight of that dream?
9. Smoking causes multiple immediate effects that can be detrimental to your image and physical appearance. Teenagers should ask themselves these questions –
· Do you like talking to someone who has bad breath?
· Do you think having yellow teeth is attractive?
· Do you want to be coughing and hacking up phlegm during your movie date with the cute girl in your Algebra class?
· Do you want people to avoid you because your clothes and hair reek of cigarette smoke?
10. What does dog urine and a pack of cigarettes have in common?
Ammonia. Don’t know what this is? Well, it is a gas that is found in dog pee and, you guessed it, that cigarette that you are smoking because you think it makes you look cool. Think again.
The Walton County Prevention Coalition prides itself in working towards efforts of creating a Tobacco-Free Florida. Tobacco isn’t to be ignored when it comes to substance abuse in our youth, being that tobacco use contributes to the leading causes of death in our country. Talk to your kids about smoking and keep them informed on all of the horrifying statistics surrounding tobacco use.