New Study
Provides First Comprehensive Look at Tobacco Use Among Middle School and
High School Students
 The
American Legacy Foundation*, in a joint project with the CDC Foundation and
with scientific and technical assistance from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), took an important step toward addressing
underage smoking by creating a new survey that continues to evaluate tobacco
use among high school students and provides first-ever national data on
tobacco use among middle school students.
 The 1999 National Youth
Tobacco Survey (NYTS) is unique because there is no other report that provides data
on the most widely used tobacco products, to include emerging tobacco
products such as bidis and kretek cigarettes, among young people. Survey
results were similar to those of other national studies, such as Monitoring
the Future, and provide clear evidence that teenage tobacco use continues to
be a major public health problem in the United States.
The study found that 12.8
percent of middle school students and 34.8 percent of high school students
currently use some form of tobacco (cigarettes, smokeless, cigars, pipes,
bidis, or kreteks). The study also found that African American (9.0
percent) middle school students smoke at similar rates to white (8.8
percent) and Hispanic (11.0 percent) middle school students. This finding,
if supported by future surveys, may be an early indication that the
differences in smoking rates between African American and white students
may be disappearing. However, this and other national studies have shown
that African American high school students smoked at much lower rates than
other students. The differing patterns of tobacco product use across
racial/ethnic groups require further research.
The American Legacy
Foundation's survey also measured teen attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge
about tobacco use, intent to use, exposure to tobacco use, and exposure to
tobacco marketing/advertising. The data can be used to evaluate the
effectiveness of initiatives such as public education campaigns, or as a
guide to implement tobacco control programs designed to reduce and prevent
teen tobacco use. The NYTS underscores the importance of government and
nonprofit tobacco control organizations partnering together to prevent
tobacco use among young people. The survey will serve as a road map as we
face the challenges of reducing the health effects and premature deaths
attributed to tobacco use in the next millennium.
The American Legacy
Foundation was established in 1999. It was created by the Master
Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the state attorneys general and the
tobacco companies. Legacys five-year goals are to reduce youth tobacco
use, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, increase successful quit rates
and decrease tobacco consumption among all ages and populations. To meet
the goal of reducing youth tobacco use, Legacy provides funding for
tobacco use surveys with youth. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention provides technical support to Legacy in conducting the surveys
and analyzing the data.
Press
Release Tobacco
Use Among Middle and High School Students National Youth Tobacco
Survey 1999 MMWR
Highlights Current Cigarette
Smoking Among Middle and High School Students by Race/Ethnicity National
Youth Tobacco Survey, 1999 Graph
Current
Use Among Middle and High School Students by Type of Tobacco Product
National Youth Tobacco Survey, 1999 Graph Tobacco
Use Among Middle and High School Students United States, 1999
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