Teen Smokers Struggle To Kick The Habit; Most Want To Quit And Can't

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2008) — Most teenagers who smoke cigarettes make repeated attempts to quit but most are unsuccessful, according to new research from the Université de Montréal and funded by the Canadian Cancer Society.

"The study found that teen smokers make their first serious attempt to quit after only two and a half months of smoking, and by the time they have smoked for 21 months they have lost confidence in their ability to quit," says Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin, the study's lead author and a researcher from the Université de Montréal's department of social and preventive medicine.

Dr. O'Loughlin analyzed data from 319 Montreal teens who completed reports on their smoking habits every three months for five years. The study found that teen smokers progress through stages or milestones in their attempts to stop smoking. These stages are:

• Confidently declaring that they have stopped smoking forever, one to two months after their first puff;
  
• Expressing a conscious desire to quit with a growing realization that quitting requires serious effort;
  
• Over the next two years, as cravings and withdrawal symptoms increase, gradually losing confidence in their ability to quit;
  
• A year later, they are smoking daily and now realize they still smoke because it is very hard to quit;
  
• About two years after starting to smoke cigarettes daily, teen smokers are showing full-blown tobacco dependence.

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