Confronted with the problem of teen addiction, public health experts, parents, and other concerned individuals have long struggled to understand why young people begin using marijuana, alcohol, and other habit-forming substances. In recent years, as public disapproval of smoking has increased, a great deal of attention has been paid to the question of why some teenagers smoke cigarettes.

In a 1994 report, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People, former U.S. surgeon general Joycelyn Elders examined the reasons teenagers smoke. Elders argues that adolescents are naturally prone to experiment with risky behavior such as smoking and also tend to underestimate the potential for addiction. She maintains that cigarettes are too easily available to minors, who are too young to fully understand the dangers.

Reporter Monika Guttman, who investigated the reasons teens smoke in an August 1995 article in U.S. News & World...