Is Your Child's Future Going Up In Smoke?

Your teenager has started smoking, and you are worried about his health. Just how should you tackle it? Psychologist CHRIS HART has some down-to-earth answers.

- Chris Hart

Eeryone accepts that society should discourage smoking, because of its wellestablished health risks. One of the most ideal solutions would be to persuade existing smokers to quit. But it’s obviously far better to prevent people starting in the first place. And that starts with teenagers, because 90 per cent of smokers start at 18 years. And the younger people are when they start smoking, the harder it is for them to quit.

THEY WANT TO BE ‘COOL’

Today’s teens have access to health information like never before. But alongside all the warnings about the dangers of tobacco, there are also subtle messages that smoking is cool, edgy and adult.

It helps that governments are discouraging tobacco advertising, making tobacco more costly, and trying to make smoking seem socially unacceptable rather than the norm. But most anti-smoking campaigns, and public health messages about tobacco, have exactly the wrong effect on teenagers. Because discouraging smoking and telling teenagers that it’s bad for them only make it seem even more desirable.

Tell a teenager not to do something, and instantly that seems like the best idea since sliced bread, even if they had never thought of it before. That’s because they are naturally rebellious. Messages warning kids against peer pressure actually end up sounding to them like, ‘Smoking makes you look cool, attractive and rebellious.’ Others just want to seem older, edgier, or more confident than they really are.

Teens and young adults also highly value being ‘in’ with their group. So if their peers smoke, they’re much more likely to start themselves.

Teenagers are also much more likely to smoke if they see their family using tobacco or misusing alcohol, especially brothers and sisters, or if they or their friends are not doing well in school.

TALK AT THE DINNER TABLE