1) Youngsters like to try out forbidden stuff, they like to rebel, so they make take up smoking as a form of rebellion, especially when parents are too “strict and disciplinarian”. what starts out as a rebellion, could turn into a serious addiction.
2) To imitate adults around them: usually parents who smoke, set an example for their children. Most people who smoke, have at least seen one of their parents/ relatives smoking. It seems to be okay to do it, and so they take it up as an accepted norm.
3) Some teenagers take it up as a habit in order to appear cool and grown up, or to imitate role models, movie idols, etc.
4) Peer pressure: smoking as a habit is picked up quite early in age. Many people start smoking in their teens, and it usually begins with peer pressure. Since the teenager sees most of his/her friends do it, they are pressurized in to trying it out in order to “fit-in” with the crowd.
5) It seems to go hand in hand with drinking.
6) Smoking as a stress buster: because of the “high” or the “kick” that nicotine provides the smoker with, many people turn to it as a stress buster. If you watch these people closely, monitor the times they light up a cigarette, you will find that there was a stress causing element that occurred just before the need to light-up.
7) Smoking as an emotional crutch: many smokers feel helpless, or out of control in their lives. They feel “uncared for” or “un-loved”. These people could use smoking as an emotional crutch.