Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students

Analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that, from 2000 to 2009, cigarette use and experimentation declined for middle school and high school students. However, the overall decline in tobacco use stalled from 2006 to 2009, suggesting that the current rate of smoking decline is relatively slow.

Eighty percent of adult smokers begin using tobacco products before they turn 18, according to the report. To monitor trends in youth smoking, the CDC looked at data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, a school-based survey that tracks tobacco use from middle school and high school students. In 2009, 8.2 percent of middle school students and 23.9 percent of high school students reported current use of any tobacco product. In 2000, 15.1 percent of middle school students and 34.5 percent of high school students reported using tobacco products. This decline did not deepen from 2006 to 2009, but this may because the 1990s were marked by years of increases in youth tobacco use followed by steady decreases beginning in 1997.

The report suggests that decreasing susceptibility to tobacco use is key to tobacco use decline. Susceptibility includes the portion of youth who are willing to try tobacco and experiment with cigarettes. The editor concluded by calling for restrictions in advertising and urged communities to fully implement evidence-based tobacco control policies.

The report was published in August 2010 by Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC’s weekly publication.
 

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