ANSWERS, Part One
Answers will vary. Review the answers students provided for questions 1. This will give you a sense of your students’ experience with tobacco, but should not be shared with the students.
ANSWERS, Part Two
1. Explain to students that most young people do not smoke. Studies show that only about 2.3% of middle school students and 9.3% of high school students in this country are current cigarette smokers, while 6% of high school males and 2% of middle school males are current smokeless tobacco users.1 (Current is defined as having used tobacco on at least one day in the 30 days preceding the survey.) Point out to students that the younger people are when they start smoking, the more likely they are to become addicted.3
4. Ask students if they want to volunteer answers about why young people use tobacco. Note their answers on the board. Explain to students that some of the reasons young people try or start to use tobacco include: 3, 4
- They don’t feel good about themselves (low self-esteem and self-image).
- They don’t know about the health consequences of smokeless tobacco.
- They think lots of people smoke (overestimating number of people who smoke).
- They don’t realize that they can become addicted (not understanding the addictive potential of nicotine).
5. Ask students if they want to volunteer answers about why they think young people choose to be tobacco free. Explain that some people may choose to be tobacco free because: 3, 4
- Their friends don’t use tobacco.
- They know about the health consequences.
- They want to be tobacco free.
6. Explain to students that some young people try tobacco because of a “clack of self-efficacy in the ability to refuse offers to use tobacco,”3 or they don’t know how to tell their friends they don’t want to try it.
Explain to students that people their age are sometimes pressured to use tobacco, and that pressure can be difficult to handle. Let them know that in this unit, they are going to learn some ways to say “no” and cope with peer pressure so they can be tobacco free.
If students volunteer stories, remind them not to use names. Listen to their concerns and explain to students that feeling pressure from friends happens, but that they will learn some ways to deal with the pressure.
8. Explain to students that there are health consequences related to tobacco use and they will learn more about them in Activities Two and Three. If students want to volunteer answers, write them on the board and then revisit the list when you read Activity Three to see which ones are listed.
9. Students might have heard that quitting tobacco is difficult, but they may not know why. To illustrate the difficulty of quitting, offer this CDC statistic: “Approximately 70% of adolescent smokers regret ever starting.”5 According to a report from the U.S. Surgeon General, most teens who smoke want to stop.3 But they can’t because “most young people who smoke regularly are already addicted to nicotine.”6 Also let students know that addiction can occur after smoking as few as 100 cigarettes.7 Tell students that they will learn about nicotine’s addictive nature in detail later in the unit.
10. Answers will vary. However, explain to your students that a survey of teens reports that 65% of teens strongly dislike being around smokers.2
For additional information on factors that influence young people to use tobacco and for reasons most of them abstain, review the Overview Booklet.
To end the lesson, display the “Tobacco: Myth or Reality?” poster in the “Materials” section and review the content with your students. The poster will reinforce the message that most young people are tobacco free.
