My Daughter Smoked Cigarettes At 16 . She Loved It & Defended It.

I was making a 30 minute film on women in smoking in the 1980s. This short clip from the film presents my daughter at age 16 who smoked cigarettes I suspect, because her mother did and most of our other relatives did.

Sure I encouraged her to quit and told her about what could happen to her but as many of you know, when a teenager smokes and you try to stop them, you will lose that battle unless they decide to stop the habit/addiction themselves.

There were several reasons why teenage girls started smoking cigarettes, including peer pressure, social influences, stress, and perceived health benefits. Peer pressure was and is a significant factor in teenagers starting to smoke. Adolescents may feel pressure to fit in with their friends or peers, and smoking can be seen as a way to do so. Social influences could also play a role in teenage girls starting to smoke. For example, if a girl came from a family where smoking was prevalent, she was more likely to start smoking herself.

Stress and anxiety could also be factors that contributed to smoking among teenager girls and boys. Some young people saw smoking as a way to cope with stress and relieve anxiety.

Back then some teenage girls started smoking because they perceived it to have health benefits, such as weight loss or increased concentration.

How many teenage girls in America smoke cigarettes today (2023)? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage of American teenage girls who smoke cigarettes has declined significantly in recent years.

As of 2021, approximately 3.1% of high school girls reported smoking cigarettes on a daily basis, while 4.4% reported smoking on at least one day in the past 30 days. This represents a significant decline from previous years, with smoking rates among teenage girls peaking at 36.4% in 1997.

While the decline in smoking rates among teenage girls is encouraging, it's important to continue efforts to prevent young people from taking up smoking, as it remains a leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. Education, public health campaigns, and policy measures such as tobacco taxes and smoke-free laws can all play a role in reducing smoking rates among young people.

Some of my subscribers who have seen this video have asked whether my daughter still smokes cigarettes now that she is in her 50s. She quit many years ago when she became an emergency room nurse and now a nurse practitioner. She saw the results and it scared the hell out of her. She just stopped cold turkey. I admire her for that and I'm glad to say that she is today, healthy. Thank God.

If you are interested in the films that I have made to encourage people to quit smoking cigarettes, search the word "tobacco" on my YouTube channel and you will find many helpful videos.

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Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker