SMOKING AND ITS CORELATION WITH SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATION



FACTORS INFLUENCING SMOKING

It is estimated that in the United States everyday about 4400 youth with age group of 12–17 years try to smoke at the first time in their lives. According to the Theory of Triadic Influence , factors that influence youth smoking are individual student characteristics (e.g., age and gender), social environment surrounding a student (e.g., friends and family members) and  broader social environment surrounding a student (e.g., school community). 

Smoking is closely linked with socioeconomic status, mortality, cognition and social class. The persons who are employed and have high incomes are at less risk to adverse health effects of smoking. School students and teenagers are mostly habitual to the smoking habit. The rate of teenagers smoking is relatively high. Parents are very stressful for how to remove their habits of smoking and how to return their children to normal life.

The use of cannabis drug can be done in the form of smoking. The teenagers are mostly addicted of cannabis and they substitute the time of their education with the time spent in influencing by drugs. Inspite of laws of NO SMOKING that prohibits the students to smoke in schools, they used to smoke outside schools where there is no rule or law. They are involved in more bad habits. Women are also habitual of tobacco smoking so there should be prevention for their smoking because women are more likely to be restricted by the social norms than men.

The duration of smoking from start of smoking to end of smoking has the positive association with morbidity and mortality. People who quit from smoking before 50 years of age have half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared with those who continue to smoke; similarly the life expectancy increases with the short cessation periods (who quit smoke sooner).

EFFECTS OF SMOKING

Cigarette smoking among children and teens causes many ill health effects such as reduce cognitive abilities; reduce their learning ability and also reducing their motivation to go to school. Nicotine has negetive impact on the brain development and cognitive abilities of teenager smokers. The effects of smoking are more adverse and severe in early age. The major deadly effect of smoking is mortality.

SOCIAL MODELING OF STUDENTS

The social modeling of school students is effective to keep them away from smoking. Non smokers are trained so not to smoke in future .The social trust development in school students is also a part of social modeling. They are given the knowledge of all side effects of smoking to either social class or on education. Some people do smoking from inspiration by their any family member or by friends so there is the need to address them. 

REGULATIONS TO BAN SMOKING

In schools there should be ban on smoking. A non smoking policy should be strictly enforced. But when a school strictly enforces a non-smoking policy, the rate of student adherence to the policy becomes relatively high. Similarly, Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction, issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention talked about development and endorsement of school strategies to prevent harm caused by smoking. Canada and a number of US states have introduced widespread “in-school smoking bans”; the main purpose behind them was to establish a non-smoking school environment that not only reduces smoking rates but also reduces students exposure to harm caused by their environment. In 1997, Taiwan passed the Tobacco Hazards Act, and in 2002 drafted the School Health Act, with the purpose of no smoking facilities in schools.