Essay --

Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence produces significant health problems, including an unfavorable lipid profile, cough and phlegm production, and decreased physical fitness. One may also develop an increase in the number and severity of respiratory illnesses, and be susceptible to potential retardation in the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function. Once advanced beyond their teenage years, almost all individuals try to quit smoking, but most fail. Therefore, a solution to the problem of smoking among children and adolescents must be to prevent young people from being lured into the destructive habit. In order to effectively prevent, or at least decrease the likelihood of, smoking among young people, one needs to understand the reasons why children and teens start to smoke. A few are: peer and societal pressures, internal struggles, and the obligation to succeed in academics. Peer pressure is one of the primary reasons young people smoke. It may be placed on the subject in the form of outright, verbal persuasion, or it may manifest itself as one's...