Finding the motivation to break the habit

While many young people experiment with tobacco, some (about 20 percent of American high-school seniors) become daily users. Surveys show that nearly half of the young daily smokers want to quit but repeatedly fail to break the habit. How might people’s early experiences with tobacco use influence the chances that they will become lifelong users?

Our research has confirmed that craving for tobacco and the experience of unpleasant effects from nicotine withdrawal are important factors in perpetuating tobacco use among young people. Reliable answers to the following questions can improve intervention strategies to help our youth to a life free of the tobacco habit.

• How do individuals’ patterns of behavior in their early experiences with    tobacco influence the course of their tobacco use over time?

• Are such complex individual traits as stress-reaction and self-esteem    important variables in tobacco-use initiation and addiction?

• Can giving individual young people specific kinds of information — such as    feedback about one’s bodily reaction to a dose of tobacco or nicotine
   or facts about one's particular vulnerability to nicotine addiction — motivate    them to quit tobacco use?