Untitled Essay Research Paper AbstractCigarette smoking is

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

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 promoted and heavily influenced teens. Influence also

came from

Television and other media sources. The desires to be accepted and to feel

grown up are

among the most common reasons to start smoking. Yet, even though teenagers

sometimes smoke to gain independence, and to be part of the crowd parental

influence

plays the strongest role as to whether or their children will smoke, Journal

of American

Medical Association (JAMA), 1991. Children are exposed to and influenced

by the

parents, siblings, and the media long before peer pressure will become a

factor. Mothers

should not smoke during pregnancy, nicotine, which crosses the placental

barrier, may

affect the female fetus during an important period of development so as to

predispose the

brain to the addictive influence of nicotine. Prenatal exposure to smoking

has previously

been linked with impairments in memory, learning, cognition, and perception

in the

growing child. (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 1995) Subsequent follow-up

after 12

years suggest that regardless of the amount or duration of current or past

maternal

smoking, the strongest correlation between maternal smoking and a daughter’s

smoking

occurred when the mother smoked during pregnancy. NIDA also reported that

of 192

mothers and their first born adolescents with a mean age of 12 1/2, the analysis

revealed

that 26.6% of the girls whose mother smoked while pregnant had smoked in

the past

year.

The 1991 smoking prevalence estimate of 25.7% is virtually no different from

the

previous year’s estimate of 25.5%. If current trends persist, we will not

meet one of the

nation’s health objectives, particularly a smoking prevalence of no more

than 15% by the

year 2000. When comparing the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs,

only

cigarette use did not decline substantially among high school senior among

1981 to 1991.

In contrast studies performed by “household survey” by the NIDA and the CDC,

(Centers

for Disease Control) in 1991 and 92 respectively, suggested that the strongest

influence

on teenage smoking is parents. Research also revealed that approximately