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Burden of Chronic Disease

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The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors: National and State Perspectives 2002

Section III
Risk Factors and Use of Preventive Services, United States

  




Cigarette Smoking Among High School Students

Preventing tobacco use among young people is critical to the overall goal of reducing the prevalence of smoking. Almost all smokers begin smoking during their teenage years. Every year, more than three-quarters of a million young people become regular smokers. If current patterns continue, about a third of young people who are regular smokers will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease. Factors associated with young people using tobacco include nicotine dependence, public attitudes about smoking, tobacco marketing, and peer and parental influences.

  • According to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), every day 6,000 young people try cigarettes for the first time. 
  • In 1999, 35% of U.S. high school students had smoked cigarettes in the last month.
  • The percentage of high school students who reported cigarette smoking in the states collecting this information in 1999 ranged from 12% in Utah to 44% in South Dakota.

Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Cigarette Smoking,* 1999

Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Cigarette Smoking, 2000. Data in tabular format follows.

*Smoked cigarettes on 1 or more of the 30 days preceding the survey.
Source: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

  



 

Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Cigarette Smoking,* by Sex, Race, and Ethnicity, 1999

State† Total Male Female White Black‡ Hispanic‡ Other‡
Alabama 33.6 40.0 33.0 41.0 24.0 - -
Alaska1 33.9 31.3 35.8 28.8 - - 49.0
Arizona  
Arkansas 39.6 41.2 37.9 42.7 23.2 - -
California   
Colorado  
Connecticut§ 31.2 30.0 32.1 34.0 17.6 32.5 31.3
Delaware 31.2 31.1 33.4 39.2 17.7 29.5 25.1
District of Columbia 19.9 21.0 19.0 - 19.0 25.7 -
Florida§ 27.4 26.9 27.6 34.0 12.3 23.2 26.6
Georgia  
Hawaii 27.9 26.7 28.8 24.2 - 38.9 27.0
Idaho  
Illinois§2 34.0 32.4 35.4 35.2 20.5 - -
Indiana   
Iowa§ 35.8 32.8 38.4 34.5 - - -
Kansas              
Kentucky§ 41.5 41.5 41.5 42.8 23.6 - -
Louisiana§3 33.3 34.8 31.8 47.0 15.7 - -
Maine§ 31.2 30.7 31.4 31.0 - - -
Maryland  
Massachusetts 30.3 29.9 30.7 32.9 20.5 23.0 28.9
Michigan 34.1 34.9 33.3 36.3 19.8 - 37.8
Minnesota  
Mississippi 31.5 34.4 28.5 43.8 18.4 - -
Missouri 32.8 35.6 30.1 39.4 16.9 - -
Montana 35.0 35.4 34.6 32.5 - - 54.4
Nebraska§ 37.3 37.7 36.7 37.3 - - -
Nevada 32.6 32.4 32.5 32.1 - 36.3 33.2
New Hampshire§ 34.1 30.8 37.4 34.0 - - 33.3
New Jersey§4 33.8 33.0 34.3 38.9 - 29.9 21.2
New Mexico§ 36.2 36.0 36.2 35.0 - 35.0 46.6
New York 31.8 29.5 34.1 36.0 19.2 27.6 27.6
North Carolina  
North Dakota 40.6 40.2 41.0 38.2 - - 60.8
Ohio 40.3 40.1 40.5 40.0 30.3 - 48.8
Oklahoma  
Oregon  
Pennsylvania  
Rhode Island  
South Carolina 36.0 37.7 34.2 45.9 22.8 33.2 41.7
South Dakota 43.6 41.8 45.5 12.0 - - -
Tennessee5 37.5 39.2 35.6 40.9 21.5 - -
Texas  
Utah 11.9 11.7 11.8 10.9 - - 15.3
Vermont 33.4 33.3 33.6 32.7 - - 37.8
Virginia  
Washington  
West Virginia 42.2 40.6 43.7 41.9 - - -
Wisconsin 38.1 38.2 37.8 39.6 - - -
Wyoming 35.2 34.6 35.9 33.8 - 47.2 -
United States 34.8 34.7 34.9 38.6 19.7 32.7 33.0

*Smoked cigarettes on 1 or more of the 30 days preceding the survey. 
† States with no data shown did not conduct a Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 1999. 
‡ A dash indicates that the state sample had too few respondents (fewer than 100) in this category to calculate a stable estimate. 
§ Unweighted data.
1 Excludes students from Anchorage. 
2 Excludes students from Chicago. 
3 Excludes students from New Orleans. 
4 Excludes 18% of the total high school population studied in a separate survey. 
5 Excludes students from Nashville. 
Source: CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.

 

  



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This page last reviewed August 10, 2004

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