Young Women Smoking for All the Wrong Reasons
September 11th, 2006 (Quit Smoking)
Nicotine dependency is the most common form of drug addiction and causes more deaths and disease than all other addictions combined. And when it comes to addictive behaviors, cigarette smoking is the one most likely to take hold during adolescence. So with all those people smoking, there have to be other “reasons” for it beyond being a coping mechanism.
And there are - especially if you ask young women. Some start smoking because it’s still considered cool in certain circles (cigarette advertising sure tries to make it seem that way). Peer pressure is really powerful, and if the popular crowd says, “If you light up, you’re cool with us,” that can be hard to resist.
Another draw for girls who start smoking during puberty is it seems to help with hormonal changes that cause mood fluctuations. Nicotine works like other drugs when it comes to anger, depression and mood swings. It goes to the pleasure center of the brain and says, “Chill out! Everything is going to be OK.”