CULTURE AND DISEASE

Culture and Disease of Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Smoking is one of the most basic causes that lead to pancreatic cancer, among other diseases. This paper talks of the cultural significance that smoking may hold in a society where media leads the mind. The causes of smoking in young African Americans range from peer pressure to parental influence with no variations found among groups of different ethnicities. Everyone faces the same psychological pressures that lead to diseases and environmental factors have most noteworthy role in causing long term problems.

Contents

Culture and Disease of Pancreatic Cancer

Introduction

The effects smoking has on ones body are only too obvious, especially for chain smokers. It is a well-known fact that the risk for cancer is doubled when one takes up smoking. Not only that, gum disease, tooth decay and bad breath are common concerns with cigarette smoking as well. Among African American youths, smoking continues to be a norm, with smoking rates lowering in 1991 to a spike again from 2004(Bachman et al., 1991). African American High School students claim to smoke a cigarette a day, and with no proper authority figures to put a solid ban on these habits, things seem bleak for the future.

Discussion

Research has shown that developing a smoking habit in a young age will lead to a higher dependency on tobacco as nerve relaxants in an adult life. Although the smoking rates for African American youths are relatively lower than adults, the foundation is laid down through the adolescent years, hence leading to a higher rate of addiction especially among men. This is the reason that a large number of African American men are prone to heart disease, hypertension, and stroke as they become adults. A large number of factors may influence a youth to take up smoking. Lack of awareness of its long term effects may be one of these factors, as children are not taught early in school about how smoking may affect the lungs, the heart and other body organs.

Environmental Factors:

For some youths, peer pressure is the biggest factor that has led them to smoking. They do not want to appear different to their friends as they enter new schools, and at the insistence or influence of others, take up smoking. Peer pressure plays the most noteworthy role in youths taking up smoking.Some may even see it as a sign of maturity, as has been the case with many young African American High School students in the past. Another environmental factor may just be the experimental phase of an adolescent's life. The African American youths are no different, and would want to try an occasional smoke to find out the appeal behind it. Usually, this is what causes adolescents to make smoking into a definitive habit. Occasional smokes on a weekend may lead to smoking while with friends, to smoking at home and so on. The temper issue has also been raised when teens are asked why they particularly took up ...