African American teens used to smoke far less than white teens, but now their numbers are rising quickly. I don't know if their statements were true or if they were making it up. But it indicates that there is tremendous peer pressure in schools. She said the children's surroundings give them too many opportunities to try a cigarette. And then there is this need to belong.
Youths see others smoking and they are encouraged to smoke.
She said many youths feel invincible, and they retort that the government would have banned cigarettes if they were so bad for them. It allows peers to convince other youths that tobacco still is bad, and that big tobacco has a lot of power. They can reveal to each other about manipulations by the tobacco industry and how the public has been put in jeopardy for a profit base. Smoking also plays into youths' obsession with staying thin. They model what they see in the family, and what they see through advertisements and movies.