One time or another, everyone has smelt cigarette smoke or has had a friend who smokes. The most common thing that comes to mind when talking about cigarettes is that they are bad for you. The majority of adults who are still smoking today started when they were teenagers. The question is why did these teenagers start, how did they get the cigarettes, what are the affects and what can be done to decrease the numbers?
             There are no set reasons as to why teenagers start to smoke. The most common things that may attribute to adolescent smoking are their parents being smokers and peer pressure. "There is a thirty percent chance of smoking in young adulthood that can be attributed to the child's attitudes to peer pressure and the hazards of smoking as they are at eleven to twelve years and exposure to parental smoking" (Swan, Murray, and Jarret, 2). The majority of teenagers will try smoking once while the others stay hooked. If a child has a parent or family member who smokes, they will more likely smoke in the future because they are around it and cigarettes are easily accessible. When a family member smokes, it is also easy for the child to get away with smoking because the parents would by hypocritical for telling them not too. Parents also play an important role in the child's life. They teach their children right from wrong and their behaviors and attitudes towards things are learned from the parents. When a child sees a parent smoking they may feel that it is ok to smoke and may not be educated on the health risks. "Having siblings who smokes also increased the risk of the adolescent adopting smoking" (Murray, Jarrett, Swan, and Rumun, 8). Having an older sibling would have an affect on the child because they are a role model and someone to look up too. Most siblings want to be like their older brother or sister, and if they smoke, the sibling is also going to want to smoke.
             Peer presure i...