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Incidence of Initiation of Cigarette Smoking United States, 1965 - 1996
MMWR Highlights
October 9, 1998 / Vol.47 / No.39
- More than 6,000 persons under the age
of 18 years try their first cigarette each day. More than 3,000 persons under the age of
18 years become daily smokers every day.
- In 1996, more than 1.851 million
Americans became daily smokers, of which an estimated 1.226 million (66.2 percent) were
under the age of 18 years.
- The number of adolescents who become
daily smokers before the age of 18 years increased by 73 percent from 1988 (708,000) to
1996 (1.226 million)rising from nearly 2,000 to more than 3,000 persons under the age
of 18 years who become daily smokers each day. If the rate of smoking initiation among
young people had held constant since 1988, then 1.492 million fewer persons under the age
of 18 years would have become daily smokers by 1996.
- In the 1960s and 1970s, the rate of
first-daily smoking was highest for persons aged 18-25 years. Since the late 1980s,
however, the rate of first-daily smoking was similar for adolescents aged 12-17 years and
young adults aged 18-25 years.
- Among persons aged 12-17 years, the
incidence of first use of cigarettes per 1,000 potential news users has been rising
continuously during the 1990s and has been steadily higher than for persons aged 18-25
years since the early 1970s.
- At least 4.5 million adolescents
(aged 12-17 years) in the United States smoke cigarettes.
- Young people vastly underestimate the
addictiveness of nicotine. Of daily smokers who think that they will not smoke in five
years, nearly 75 percent are still smoking five to six years later.
- Seventy percent of adolescent smokers
wish they had never started smoking in the first place.
- To prevent initiation of tobacco use
and to help adolescents quit requires a comprehensive approach. This approach should
include increasing tobacco prices; reducing the access and appeal of tobacco products;
conducting mass media campaigns and school-based tobacco use prevention programs;
increasing provision of smoke-free indoor air; regulating tobacco products; decreasing
tobacco use by parents, teachers, and influential role models; developing and
disseminating effective youth cessation programs; and increasing support and involvement
from parents and schools.
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