Smoking and adolescent health

Abstract

With the Westernization and opening of our society, adolescents' smoking is increasing and being popularized. Many adolescents start smoking at an early age out of curiosity and venturesomeness, and earlier start of smoking makes it more difficult to quit smoking. Adolescents' habitual smoking not only becomes a gateway to all kinds of substance abuse but also causes various health problems including upper respiratory infection, immature lung development, reduced maximum vital capacity, and lung cancer. Therefore, it is quite important to prevent adolescents from smoking. The lowering of adolescents' smoking rate cannot be achieved only through social restrictions such as stereotyped education on the harms of smoking and ID checking. In order to lower adolescents' smoking rate substantially, each area of society should develop standardized programs and make related efforts. As adolescents' smoking is highly influenced by home environment or school life, it is necessary to make efforts in effective education and social reinforcement in school, to establish related norms, and to execute preventive education using peer groups. When these efforts are spread throughout society in cooperation with homes and communities, they will be helpful to protect adolescents' health and improve their quality of life. Copyright © 2011 by The Korean Pediatric Society.