Durban - More than 50% of teenagers in India smoke cigarettes because they believe it helps reduce stress and because smoking makes them appear cool among their peers, a survey has found.
It showed that 52% of teenagers believed smoking helped increase concentration levels.
While nearly 90% said they would continue smoking if there was no resistance from their parents, more than 80% said it was okay to experiment with smoking at least once.
“Smoking is plaguing society and we are moving into an era where it is acceptable for younger age groups to begin smoking and engage in other risky behaviour,” said Samir Parikh, director of the Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences at Fortis Healthcare.
Further, 87% reported that watching actors smoke in movies promoted smoking, while 78% said celebrity figures featuring in anti-smoking campaigns would help them quit.
More than 60% believed disclaimers showing harmful consequences of smoking could help in prevention.
The survey has highlighted the need to change the youth’s perception about smoking as it can lead to the early onset of lifestyle related diseases.
According to the World Health Organisation, smoking claims the lives of more than 7million people each year.
A study published in the journal The Lancet showed that more than 11% of deaths worldwide were caused by smoking in 2015 and 52.2% of them took place in China, India, Russia, and the US.
Smoking causes almost 90% of deaths from lung cancer, about 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and about 17% of deaths from heart disease.
For the survey, the team surveyed 1900 teenagers from six areas - Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai - to assess the prevalent attitudes towards tobacco smoking.