A Research Presented to the Faculty of Lyceum of the Philippines University Department of College of Arts and Sciences

Social Factors that Fuel the Influence of Peer Pressure in Adolescent Smoking

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in Social Psychology under Ms. Amor Santiago School Year 2014-2015

Members:

Gaña, Servil R.
Gonzaga, Marc Ian V.
Dela Cruz, Jamella Mariz
CHAPTER I I. Introduction

“Smoking is dangerous to your health.” Despite of this warning printed on every box of cigarette, people still tend to buy these “cancer sticks”. People are aware of the costs of cigarette smoking, and we know for a fact that, behind a stick’s purpose of giving pleasure or relief, it slowly kills, not only an individual but also the environment. Yet smoking exists. It would have been tolerable for people in their middle adulthood to smoke since they have their personal and somehow dignified reason for smoking, but why did smoking have to invade the adolescent’s realm of pure inquisitive innocence? This research paper aspires to extract some of the factors that have a definite influence on why and how adolescents learn to smoke.

Years of research about adolescent smoking have already been conducted, thousands of papers have been printed and many psychologists, researchers, students and professors went through stress just to gather data and information about adolescent smoking. These efforts are very helpful and it continues to spur great awareness among others, but the unconscious need of the society to extinguish smoking behaviors is still not gratified. To stop a patch of grass to grow, it must be uprooted. It is possible for smoking to be extinguished by examining where its roots lie and carefully uprooting it.

This research will be focusing on the power that peers hold and how peer pressure affects an adolescent that ultimately engages the