Smoking Prevention Strategies Among Adolescents In High School
1937 Words
8 Pages
The electronic cigarette is the novel product to become ever more the focus for smoking prevention strategies among adolescents in high school. In one year alone between 2013 and 2014, the percentage and total number of students smoking e-cigarettes tripled from 4.5 to 13.4 percent of students and 660,000 to 2 million teenagers, respectively (Centers for Disease Control, 2015). E-cigarette use for the first time exceeded over the use of every other tobacco product, including conventional cigarettes. The behavior of smoking electronic cigarettes has the influence and popularity that can undo the progress made in reducing youth cigarette smoking rates (CDC, 2015). Understanding why high school adolescents smoke e-cigarettes thus becomes imperative
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Students claim little knowledge and uncertainty of the possible health risks associated with e-cigarettes while stating that looking good is a benefit (Roditis & Halpern-Felsher, 2015). Other perceived positive outcomes are that e-cigarettes are healthier cigarettes because the products deliver only nicotine and are effective as smoking cessation tools (although further research is required to determine the efficacy). Furthermore, smoking electronic cigarettes is perceived to be convenient as they could be used when individuals are in a hurry and without additional things, like a lighter (Choi, Fabian, Mottey, Corbett, & Forster, 2012). The reduced harm relative to usual cigarettes, possible positive health behavioral effects, looking good in one 's group and convenience are seen as beneficial and desirable outcomes, respectively, of the behavior. If teenagers in high school value the results in such ways, teenagers ' attitudes are therefore favorable and their likelihood of partaking in e-cigarette use, or intentions, are …show more content…
The subjective norms resulting from friends were a stronger predictor of health behavior than the subjective norms resulting from parents. So, this intervention targets a person 's desire to conform to perceived social norms. A focus is to instill into groups of e-cigarette users the belief that participating in harmful behaviors in order to gain peer group acceptance is wrong. If the youth are able to refuse smoking e-cigarettes from their peers and believe that they can do so, there is less of a need to care much about their peers ' perceptions about the
Students claim little knowledge and uncertainty of the possible health risks associated with e-cigarettes while stating that looking good is a benefit (Roditis & Halpern-Felsher, 2015). Other perceived positive outcomes are that e-cigarettes are healthier cigarettes because the products deliver only nicotine and are effective as smoking cessation tools (although further research is required to determine the efficacy). Furthermore, smoking electronic cigarettes is perceived to be convenient as they could be used when individuals are in a hurry and without additional things, like a lighter (Choi, Fabian, Mottey, Corbett, & Forster, 2012). The reduced harm relative to usual cigarettes, possible positive health behavioral effects, looking good in one 's group and convenience are seen as beneficial and desirable outcomes, respectively, of the behavior. If teenagers in high school value the results in such ways, teenagers ' attitudes are therefore favorable and their likelihood of partaking in e-cigarette use, or intentions, are …show more content…
The subjective norms resulting from friends were a stronger predictor of health behavior than the subjective norms resulting from parents. So, this intervention targets a person 's desire to conform to perceived social norms. A focus is to instill into groups of e-cigarette users the belief that participating in harmful behaviors in order to gain peer group acceptance is wrong. If the youth are able to refuse smoking e-cigarettes from their peers and believe that they can do so, there is less of a need to care much about their peers ' perceptions about the