The Effects of Teenager Smoking in the United Kingdom - Research Paper Example

Lecturer Research on the Effects of Teenager Smoking in the United Kingdom Introduction Teenager smoking is a major health and social challenge in the United Kingdom. The research aims at addressing the effects of smoking on young people, through quantitative and qualitative research, in the United Kingdom. Teenager smoking has several health effects presently. The effects are also experienced in the future when individuals reach old age. Individuals who begin smoking during their younger years experience increased health risks; for instance, lung damage, cervical pre-cancerous lesions, and bowel cancer. Generally, the smoking prevalence is greater for teenagers whose guardians or teenagers smoke. The main reason for the study is to address the increasing rates of smoking among teen in the United Kingdom. This study has two major aims. The first aim is to illustrate the negative effects of smoking, both first hand and second hand, among the teenage demography in the United Kingdom. The second aim of the research is to illustrate measures that address the health challenges cause by teenage smoking. The hypothesis for the study is that; teenager smoking has negative health consequences. Literature Review The first analyzed study explains that; the addictive drug contained in cigarette smoke is called nicotine. The addiction causes the teenage smokers to go on with the habit of consuming tobacco. Addicted teenage smokers consume adequate nicotine levels to achieve their craving needs. Individuals, who crave high nicotine levels, consume more cigarette products. Tobacco smoke has more than 60 chemicals that cause cancer. Smoking, therefore, harms almost all body organs. The second study focuses on the health consequences of smoking. Short term effects of smoking include; nicotine addiction and respiratory effects. The long term effects of smoking entails reduced lung functioning and minimized lung growth. Other generate effects involves heart strokes during later stages of life, and heart diseases. The third research study shows the demographics involving teenage and children smoking. In 2014, approximately 4% of children and teens aged between 11 and 15 continuously smoke not less than one cigarette every week. However, regular teenage smokers in the United Kingdom consume an average of 36 cigarettes per week. The three studies employed appropriate research techniques. This is because they applied both quantitative and qualitative approaches of research, during data analysis (Laura 2008). The main limitation in the three studies involved minimum time duration for collecting data. Respondents normally required adequate time for filling in questionnaires and responding to the interview questions. The main similarity of the studies is that they focused on respondents across the entire United Kingdom. The huge geographical focus for the research limited physical contact with the respondents. In fact, majority of the data was collected from secondary sources like the health journals. In addition to nicotine, the teenage cigarette smokers consume approximately 7,000 chemicals through the cigarette smoke. Majority of the smoke emanate from the burning tobacco leaf. The chemical compounds are usually active; hence, they cause damaging effects. Methods The original study on the effects of smoking on individuals, illustrate negative health effects. The study captured the entire age demography in the United Kingdom. This research study, however, only focuses on the teenage segment of the population. Just like in the original study, this study has formulated the hypothesis that teenage smoking is harmful in terms of health aspects. CDC (2004) illustrated the negative health challenges as a result of cigarette smoking among the young individuals. The study then addresses the most effective approach of minimizing the rate of cigarette smoke. This approach involves peer education and also health counseling. Lew & Garfinkel (2007) shows the longeivity and mortality rates associated with smoking. The study illustrates that smoking usually begins during the young years, and then continuously increases as the years progresses. High mortality rates are usually caused by the continuously increasing cases of teenager smoking. AJHP et al (2009) shows self reported challenges among the teenage population in the United Kingdom. The high school seniors used in the study illustrated health challenges that were directly related to smoking cases; for example, respiratory tract infections. The research methods applied in the study is similar to the case study smoking researches. This is because all the study had components related to quantitative research process. The data used in the study were analyzed through measures of variation and central tendency. The measure of central tendency in the research is the mean, which illustrated the average age of the respondents to the 16 years. Likewise the variability measure explains that the range of the age of respondents is between 12 and 19 years. All the studies had one qualitative result. The result is that continuous cigarette smoking has negative health consequences. The design of the research was changed to accommodate more secondary sources of data, instead of greatly relying on questionnaires and interviews. This is because, there are many past studies done on the areas of smoking effects. The research design mixed quantitative and qualitative aspects. The quantitative research ensured numerical data analysis like percentages, means and variations. For instance, the proportion of female participants to the male participants is 44% and 46% respectively. The qualitative research further analyzed the symptoms of cigarette smoking. For instance, cigarette smoker s experience increased social withdrawal, when cigarette is not accessible in adequate quantities. The research questions were open ended. This enabled respondents to illustrate their thoughts without any predetermined limits. The respondents write their own opinions on the effects of cigarettes. The participants were got through the social media; facebook and twitter. Their ages ranged between 12 and 19 years, and the mean age was 16 years. Confidentiality of the data collected by ensured. This is because the information was only used for the research purposes. No other party accessed the data. The research participants remained anonymous. This is because e research team utilized abbreviations to identify the audience. The research required only teenagers, who are smoking presently, or who smoked before. The surveys were conducted in one month period. The materials used in the research involved; computers, questionnaires, internet connection and telephones (Lew & Garfinkel 2007). Results The research study illustrated that 23% of the teenage population in the United Kingdom have tried cigarette smoking. From the teenage smoking population, female teenagers are 71% more likely to engage in smoking, than the boys at 29%. Approximately 20% of the smoking teenagers in the United Kingdom started the practice before reaching 16 years. 9 million teenagers smoked before reaching 18 years in the United Kingdom by the end of 2014. The secondary research illustrated several issues. 30% of the teenagers who engage in the harmful smoking activities will die earlier due to the nicotine related health complications. Smoking teenagers are highly likely to experience panic attacks, depression, and the anxiety disorders. Research of the trading aspects illustrates that teenagers buy around 1.6 million cigarette packets every year. The teenager smoking behavior increases the likelihood of abusing other substances; for instance, three times likelihood of consuming alcohol, twenty two times likely of consuming cocaine, and eight times likelihood of consuming marijuana. There are several negative social effects as a result of cigarette smoking (CDC 2004). The teenage smokers are highly likely to participate in fights, suicide attempts, or possess weapons. The mental health challenges also emanate from the act of smoking cigarettes. Teenager smokers are most likely to engage in; risky sexual activities, and also experience stress and depression. On a daily basis, approximately 3,900 individuals below the age of 18years try consuming the first cigarette. After several weeks, around 950 of the teenagers will turn into daily users of cigarette products. Discussion Girls are highly active to engage in social smoking due to teenage peer pressure. This is the reason why 70% of the girls who try smoking, become long term consumers. Teenage smokers are highly likely to become lifetime smoker. Lifetime smoking is a dangerous issue, because it adversely affects the well being and health of the affected individuals. The teens should be given adequate training and knowledge of smoking, especially on a continuous basis, because nicotine is highly addictive. Diseases arising from long term smoking include; cancer of the esophagus, pancreas, cervix and stomach. Lung diseases are also caused by continuous smoking; for instance, chronic bronchitis, and obstructive bronchiolitis. Ulcers in the digestive system also develop, due to continuous smoking cases. Many organizations in the United Kingdom encourage the teenagers to stop the negative issues of smoking. Education institutions are usually at the forefront of assisting Cigarettes have dangerous chemicals that are harmful to the teenagers. These chemicals are; tar, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, metals, oxidizing chemicals, and radioactive compounds. Tar has carcinogens, and stains the teeth. Carbon monoxide minimizes the levels of oxygen in the red blood cells (AJHP 2009). Hydrogen cyanide hinders the lung clearance system. Oxidizing chemicals in the cigarette smoke are reactive chemicals, which damage the blood vessels and also the heart muscles. All the metals in the tobacco smoke are carcinogenic, hence dangerous if consumed in large quantities. The radioactive compounds are also carcinogenic. All efforts should be made in the United Kingdom to minimize the level of cigarette smoking by the youths, through campaign efforts. Bibliography AJHP, Arday DR, Giovino GA, Schulman J, Nelson DE, Mowery P, Samet JM, et al. (2009). “Cigarette smoking and self-reported health problems among U.S. high school seniors.” Health Research. CDC. (2004). “Preventing Tobacco Use among Young People.” Report of the Surgeon General. Hunter, Laura. (2008). "Collaborative Research in Sociology: Trends and Contributing Factors". The American Sociologist 39 (4): 290. Lew EA, Garfinkel L. (2007). “Differences in Mortality and Longevity by Sex, Smoking Habits and Health Status.” Society of Actuaries Transactions. Research Questionnaire 1. Illustrate your gender and age. 2. Have you ever engaged in smoking? 3. At what age did you start smoking? 4. What benefit do you derive from smoking? 5. Do you desire to quit smoking? 6. Do you consider smoking harmful? Why? 7. Have you participated in counseling efforts to minimize smoking? 8. Is your family against your smoking habit? Why? 9. Do you know the components of cigarette smoke? 10. What is your opinion on the components? Read More