Ashtrays and Heartbreaks: The Early Exposure of Adolescents to Smoking and Alcoholism

Authors

  • Via Nicole B. Ang
  • Muriel Hans Egmilan
  • Guianne Samuelle A. Mallare
  • Millenross Anne O. Palomo
  • Danica D. Pascua

Keywords:

smoking, alcohol, adolescence

Abstract

It is statistically proven that the consumption rate of alcohol and tobacco have been at an uproar. It is estimated that 5 million Filipinos drink regularly and 39.9% on an irregular basis (DARA Thailand), and 28% or 17.3 million Filipino adults age 15 years and older are current tobacco smokers, according to the results of the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). The study aims to explore the impact of the early exposure of alcohol and cigarettes to adolescents along with the perception they have on those who retort to the habit and the influences which brought them closer to the habit. For this study, qualitative research was used with the research design Phenomenology. The study was conducted in St. Mary's College Quezon City with purposively sampled students from grades 7-12; the researchers interviewed users and non-users. The perception of adolescents which are users of these vices varies from the perception of the non-users. Half of the users saw alcohol as a "normal" tool for celebrations and stress relief while seeing cigarettes as a menace to the health of people around, the other half of the users accept cigarettes and those who use them. The perception of the non-users was mostly negative towards the subject. The factors which mainly influenced both the user and non-user adolescents to retort to vices such as alcohol and cigarettes consist of their family, their first role models, their peers which accompany them throughout a significant part of their lives, and the society itself or the environment they live in because it shapes their mentality at a daily basis with how frequent they are exposed to it. The impact of alcohol and cigarettes toward the mentality adolescents varied from the experience of the users from the experience of the non-users. Mentally, the adolescents who were users experienced temporary happiness, temporary confidence, temporary relief from stress and their problems, but most importantly, their usage of these vices led them further away from those they have relations with and to some, it increased difficulties due to the loss of control which they experience when intoxicated. The impact of the non-users was different, though; they preferred to distance themselves from the users to resist being tempted and become influenced.

Published

2019-03-18