Smoking
Use of cigarettes and other tobacco products to engage in a habit that almost always leads to addiction.
Every day 3,000 young people light up their first cigarette; every year a million teenagers become regular smokers. Adolescent smoking has risen steadily throughout the 1990s, following a sharp decline in the 1970s that leveled off in the 1980s. A 1994 report by the office of the U.S. Surgeon General found that approximately 28% of teens smoked in 1991 and 1992. By 1995 a survey of high school students released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the prevalence of teen smoking had increased to 34.8%. The study also found that smoking was most prevalent among white teenagers (38%), followed by Hispanics (34%), and blacks (19%). In addition to smoking more, teenagers are also starting to smoke earlier. The average teen smokes his or her first cigarette at the age of 13, becoming a regular smoker at 1444. A 1996 survey by the Public Health Service found that 21% of eighth graders and 30% of tenth graders surveyed smoked.
The harmful effects of teenage smoking are known to be both short-term and long-term. During adolescence, smoking interferes with ongoing lung growth and development, preventing the attainment of full lung function.
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