CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction
Teens smoke for many reasons and often for the same reasons as adults do: to cope with stress, to control their weight, as a social habit and to combat boredom. One of the biggest reasons teens start to smoke is peer influence: smoker’s friends do it. Studies show that this is especially true for girls. There's clear evidence that tobacco companies target children in their marketing. Some of the most effective are sports sponsorships - for example, boys are twice as likely to smoke if they follow car racing. Movies too: the more kids see their favorite movie stars smoking on the screen, the more likely they'll try it themselves. Some researchers think that tobacco advertising carries even more weight than peer influence. Teenagers usually smoke cigarettes because they are seeking the answer to try to be "cool" or try to be "adult". Sometimes, teens see their parents smoking and want to do it. This is a major problem because they want to be like their parents and sense they are adults, teens also want to feel like adults. A lot of adults and teens have depression and when they feel sad, smokers find cigarettes to "help" them go through their sadness. Not all people with depression smoke though. Take homeless people as an example. Smokers want to forget about their troubles and smoke weed or get drunk because homeless people think that getting high or drunk will make them happier. Sometimes, teens see their friends do it. Smoker’s friends are cool to them. Then teens will attempt to "fit in" with their friends. Most of the time, the most common cause is peer-pressure with others. Peer-pressure is when other person pressures someone to do something when the person says no.
There are over 4,000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette and at least 69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer.