SMOKING GIRLS

Women and girls smoking is now more popular than ever before, according to an alarming report by the U.S. surgeon general. Presently, more than 20% of adult women are regular smokers, and about 30% of high school senior girls have smoked in the past 30 days. Given the widespread knowledge of how harmful cigarette smoking is, we're left with one question. Why?

Girls smoking is often done because they believe that it will help them to control their weight," says S. Bryn Austin, ScD, an adolescent health researcher at Boston Children's Hospital.

Girls are also more likely to have parents or friends who smoke; they tend to have weaker attachments to parents and family and stronger attachments to peers and friends. They tend to take risks and to be rebellious, are less committed to school or religion, and are more likely to believe that smoking can control weight and negative moods. They also have a positive image of smokers, which can come from advertising, celebrities, or other role models. This positive image may overcome any concerns about the health risks.

The tobacco industry certainly markets cigarettes this way in young women's magazines. In fact, girls who are preoccupied with their weight are four times more likely to take up smoking.

The high value placed on thinness seemed to predict who would become a teen smoker. Of those who eventually progressed to smoking, just 7% considered thinness to be unimportant; 93% of the teens who did not become smokers did not consider thinness important, the report states. One in four of girls who eventually became teen smokers rated thinness as moderately important; 30% of those teens who eventually took up smoking rated thinness as extremely important.

However, in spite of the popularity of girls smoking they should always be encouraged to quit now rather than later, especially with the increasing health risk.

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