Tobacco consumption, smoking or drinking alcohol is the most significant cause of terminal illness. It’s more imperative than ever that people must quit this habit. Prepare awareness posters with pictures and slogans against tobacco consumption, smoking, drinking alcohol.
Answers
Cigarette and alcohol use often develop concurrently, and smoking is especially common among youth treated for alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders. Special considerations for adolescent smoking cessation treatment include peer influences, motivation, and nicotine dependence. Little research has addressed smoking cessation treatment for youth with AOD use disorders, but the few available studies suggest that tobacco cessation efforts are feasible and potentially effective for this population. Findings to date suggest that adolescents with AOD use disorders may benefit more from relatively intensive multicomponent programs rather than brief treatment for smoking cessation. Additional research is needed to further address the inclusion of tobacco-specific interventions for adolescents in AOD use disorder treatment programs.
Keywords: Alcohol and tobacco, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use, abuse, and dependence, smoking, gateway drug, nicotine dependence, adolescent, youth, high-risk youth, alcohol and other drug use (AODU) treatment method, smoking cessation treatment, co-treatment, intervention, brief intervention, motivational interviewing, peer relations, treatment outcome
Studies examining the origins of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use problems (i.e., AOD abuse and dependence) consistently find that cigarette smoking is closely related with AOD use. Because the use of psychoactive substances significantly escalates during the high school years (Johnston et al. 2006), most research in this area has focused on high school–aged youth (e.g., 14–18 years old). Although researchers have identified a broad range of factors that influence the initiation and progression of tobacco and AOD use, peer influences are particularly salient given the key developmental tasks of this period (e.g., establishing an identity separate from ones’ family). Ethnic and regional variations exist in the development of psychoactive substance use, yet adolescents typically start using cigarettes or alcohol prior to other drugs (Ellickson et al. 1992). Tobacco and alcohol, often referred to as “gateway drugs,” are among the first substances consumed by adolescents. This is likely influenced by their ready availability along with other sociocultural (e.g., peer influences, acculturation) and biological factors (e.g., family history of substance use disorders) (Vega and Gil 2005).