Why Teenagers Smoke Essay

Submitted By TeresaV32
Words: 1800
Pages: 8

Put This In Your Pipe and Smoke It
Teresa Villegas
English PAP, May 26, 2015
Mrs. P.Brock

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Outline

Thesis Statement: Some reasons teens start smoking is because of peer pressure, stress, or because they want to be cool; however, there are negative side effects for teen smokers. I.
Reasons why people start smoking. A. People start smoking because of peer pressure. B. Some smoke to get away from stress at school, work or home. C. Teens will start smoking because they think it is cool. II. The Dangers of Smoking A. The chemicals used in cigarettes. B. The effects chemicals have on the human body. III. The Effects of Smoking A. Emotional effects of smoking B. Physical effects of smoking C. Mental effects of smoking IV. Conclusions Teens start smoking because of peer pressure, stress or to be cool but what they do not realize is that smoking has many negative side effects.
A. Reasons why people start smoking B. The dangers of smoking

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C. The effects of smoking

Villegas,P.Brock,1 No matter what, smoking is going to happen because every day more and more people start smoking, whether they are teens or adults. The reasons why people start smoking can range from just experiencing or stressing over work or school. Most people start smoking when they are under the age of eighteen and get hooked on it. Some main reasons teens start smoking is because of of peer pressure, stress, or because they want to be cool; however, there are negative side effects for teen smokers.
Peer Pressure is one of the major reasons that people start smoking. Peer pressure is when your friends or classmates try to get you to do something. Peer pressure is not all negative it does have its positive effects, too. Positive peer pressure could be someone encouraging you to join a club or to study more to pass a test or get good grades. Negative peer pressure could be pressuring someone to play a joke on the teacher or to sneak out and go smoke a cigarette. Some ways people are pressured into doing something is by saying “Come on! Everyone is doing it!”.
Sixty­nine percent of teens will start smoking because of peer pressure(Teen Smoking Survey).
Stress is another major reason that people start smoking.
Stress is caused by many things like test, grades, parents, friends, relationships, sports, and many other things. This is called stressors. Adults are most likely going to smoke because of stress then teens. Adults may have a lot of stress because of work or personal problems. They might be working at a job they do not like or are unemployed. They also may be dealing with not enough money, divorce, or bad kids. Teens also get stressed out by many things. Teens may have

a lot of stress due to school, not getting along with parents, having a boyfriend and a girlfriend, fighting with friends, drama and too many things going on at once. All these people will smoke
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to feel relaxed or to give them energy while going through a hard time, but do not know how smoking can stress them out more. According to the Mental Health Foundation, nicotine makes the smoker feel relief from stress, but that is only temporary and increases nicotine craving causing the smoker to smoke more causing more stress(Mental Health Foundation). Twenty­nine percent of teens will start smoking because of stress(Teen Smoking Survey).
These days everybody wants to be cool or the popular kid, but is it really worth it. Teens tend to change who they are so they can hang out with the cool/popular kids.Changing how they look, act, feel about themselves, and even do drugs or smoke.Teens think smoking makes them cool because it makes them look mature and older than their friends. Truth is smoking is not cool for many reasons like bad breath, teeth