404 SH Park • Smoking and adolescent health smoking by including smoking in the category of infant diseases. Considering the impact of smoking on the body, it is important to establish active preventive measures against exposure to harmful cigarettes in growing adolescents. Lee et al.1) reported that male students tried smoking earlier than female students, and the smoking rate was higher among older students. In 2002, the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical School of Korea University12) indicated that the smoking rate among adolescents was higher in older students, academic underachievers, those from low-income families, and those living apart from their parents. Further, it was significantly related to the academic qualification of the mother, with a greater frequency (36.5%) among students with less educated mothers. It is of interest that a mother’s educational background is correlated with the likelihood that her child will smoke, since mothers in Korea are more involved in the children’s life than the fathers. It seems likely that the mother’s educational level is interconnected to the education and occupation of her spouse, and mothers of lower socioeconomic standing, who are more likely to take part in economic activities to maintain family finances, have less time to take care of the children. According to Kim13), smoking is the most important predictor of adolescent delinquency and criminal behavior, which is supported by the fact that the smoking rate is only 15.3% among average adolescents but 96.3% in delinquent adolescents. This demonstrates that smoking is the first gateway to juvenile delinquency. Discussion Adolescents usually start smoking not out of physiological need but out of a desire for social self-growth, to be treated as an adult in society, or out of resistance to established regulations14). In anti- smoking education for adolescents, rather than simply forcing the social norm that adolescents should not smoke, it is better to fully explain the harmful effects of smoking on physical growth and mental soundness. Additionally, by convincing adolescents that cigarette abuse causes social problems and can become a gateway to the use of other drugs, they may establish specific norms at their own discretion and not become addicted to cigarettes and the consequent moral corruption and various delinquencies. References 1. Lee GC, Kim YJ, Shin YK, Park SH, Tockgo YC. The state of smoking and alcohol use in Korean adolescents. J Korean Pediatr Soc 1997;40:307- 17. 2. Ministry of Health & Welfare, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 3rd online survey statistics of adolescents health behavior [Internet]. Cheongwon: Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; c2010 [cited 2011 Oct 1]. Available from: http://yhs.cdc. go.kr/. 3. Kim HR, Kim JY, Lee GH, Choung JT, Park SH. Smoking adolescents' acquisition of cigarettes and status of proof of age. Korean J Pediatr 2005; 48:363-8. 4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Tobacco use and usual source of cigarettes among high school students--United States, 1995. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1996;45:413-8. 5. Tucker JS, Ellickson PL, Klein DJ. Predictors of the transition to regular smoking during adolescence and young adulthood. J Adolesc Health 2003;32:314-24. 6. Kandel D, Single E, Kessler RC. The epidemiology of drug use among New York State high school students: distribution, trends, and change in rates of use. Am J Public Health 1976;66:43-53. 7. Kokkevi A, Stefanis C. The epidemiology of licit and illicit substance use among high school students in Greece. Am J Public Health 1991;81:48- 52. 8. Bachman JG, Johnston LD, O'Malley PM. Smoking, drinking, and drug use among American high school students: correlates and trends, 1975- 1979. Am J Public Health 1981;71:59-69. 9. Baugh JG, Hunter SM, Webber LS, Berenson GS. Development trends of first cigarette smoking experience of children: the Bogalusa heart study. Am J Public Health 1982;72:1161-4. 10. Davis RM. Reducing youth access to tobacco. JAMA 1991;266:3186-8. 11. American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse. To- bacco-free environment: an imperative for the health of children and adolescents. Pediatrics 1994;93:866-8. 12. Soh JH, Jung YK, Jang GY, Shin YK, Lee KH, Eun BL, et al. Predis- posing factors of risk taking behaviors in Korean adolescents. J Korean Pediatr Soc 2001;44:1364-73. 13. Kim HS. Discriminative factor analysis of delinquent behavior in Korea. J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc 1998;37:483-92. 14. Park HK. The social-politic consideration about youngmen’s drinking and smoking. J Korean Med Assoc1967;10:545-8.