Youth smoking: prevention and awareness techniques to improve healthcare sustainability

This manuscript, starting from scientific evidence linking cigarette smoking with the occurrence of genetic mutations and increased risk of cancer, aims to investigate the motivations behind the growing tobacco consumption among adolescents. As the costs of healthcare systems are always rising, solutions are needed to improve sustainability, by aiming at prevention and awareness programs. Through a survey addressed to students, the authors have studied the reasons behind the smoking-related behavior, in order to define the most suitable techniques for a prevention program. Results indicate that family and friends can affect the decisions of young people, so any planned intervention should target them too, through the involvement of parents and peer support groups. Equally important is the school environment. This work aims to make an important contribution to the understanding of the challenges of tobacco use among adolescents and demonstrates the effectiveness of targeted interventions to counter this issue in the school community from both a sociological and pedagogical/ educational perspective.