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Nearly 4 million adolescents in the United States smoke cigarettes.¹ Each day, about 6,000 young people try a cigarette, and more than 3,000 of these young people become regular smokers—that’s more than one million new smokers a year.²

Of all young people in the United States who are currently younger than age 18, more than 5 million will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease.³

Teen smoking rates have increased each year since 1992. In 1996, 22.2% of high school seniors smoked daily—up from 17.2% in 1992. Between 1991 and 1996, the percentage of students who had smoked a cigarette during the past month increased from 14.3% to 21.0% among eighth graders and from 20.8 to 30.4% among tenth graders.⁴

The percentage of male African-American high school students who reported smoking a cigarette in the past month has nearly doubled in recent years, from 14.1% in 1991 to 27.8% in 1995. However, among female African-American high school students, this rate has remained relatively stable (11.3% in 1991 and 12.2% in 1995).⁵

In 1996, an estimated 6 million U.S. teenagers aged 14 - 19—4.3 million males and 1.7 million females—had smoked at least one cigar within the past year. Teenagers who used other tobacco products (e.g., cigarettes or smokeless tobacco) were more likely to report smoking cigars.⁶

Smokeless tobacco use among young people is a continuing problem. Data from recent school-based surveys indicate that about one in every five male students in 9th through 12th grades uses smokeless tobacco.⁷ Smokeless tobacco can cause gum disease and cancer of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, and pancreas.^8,9 It may also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.¹⁰

Starting smoking at an early age greatly increases the risk of lung cancer. A person’s risk for most other smoking-related cancers also rises with the length of time that a person smokes.¹¹

Among adults, cigarette smoking causes heart disease and stroke. Studies have shown that early signs of these diseases can be found in adolescents who smoke.¹² Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often and produce phlegm more than twice as often as teens who don’t smoke.¹³

Several studies have found nicotine to be addictive in ways similar to those of heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.¹⁴ The transition from experimentation to dependence occurs just as frequently among young smokers as it does among users of cocaine and heroin.¹⁵

Young people tend to underestimate the addictiveness of nicotine. Of people who were daily smokers in high school but who planned to stop smoking, almost 75 percent were still smoking 5 or 6 years later.¹⁶

Cigarette products are among the most heavily advertised and promoted products in the United States. In 1994, tobacco companies spent an estimated $5 billion—or more than $13 million a day—to advertise and promote cigarettes.¹⁷

Teen smoking is often an early warning sign of future problems. Teens who smoke are three times as likely as nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times as likely to use marijuana, and 22 times as likely to use cocaine. Smoking is also associated with numerous other risky behaviors, including fighting and having unprotected sex.¹⁸

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References

1. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Preliminary Results from the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Office of Applied Studies, August 1997.
    
2. Pierce JP, Fiore MC, Novotny TE, et al. Trends in Cigarette Smoking in the United States, Projections to the Year 2000. Journal of the American Medical Association 1989, Vol. 261, pp. 61–65.
    
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Projected Smoking-Related Deaths Among Youth---United States. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1996, Vol. 45, pp. 971–974.
    
4. The University of Michigan. Cigarette Smoking Among American Teens Rises Again in 1996 (press release). December 19, 1996.
    
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco Use and Usual Source of Cigarettes Among High School Students---United States, 1995. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1996, Vol. 45, pp. 413–418
    
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigar Smoking Among Teenagers---United States, Massachusetts, and New York, 1996. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1997, Vol. 46, pp. 433–440
    
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco Use and Usual Source of Cigarettes Among High School Students---United States, 1995. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1996, Vol. 45, pp. 413–418.
    
8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994, p. 39.
    
9. National Cancer Institute. Smokeless Tobacco or Health: An International Perspective (Monograph 2). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. NIH Pub. Number 95-3461, 1992, pp. 109, 114, and 115.
    
10. Bolinder G, Alfredsson L, Englund A, de Faire U. Smokeless Tobacco Use and Increased Cardiovascular Mortality among Swedish Construction Workers. American Journal of Public Health 1994,Vol. 84, pp. 399–404.
     
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994, p. 29.
     
12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994, p. 25.
     
13. Arday DR, Giovino GA, Schulman J, Nelson DE, Mowery P, Samet JM. Cigarette Smoking and Self-Reported Health Problems Among U. S. High School Seniors. American Journal of Health Promotion, 1995, Vol. 10, pp. 111–116.
     
14. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994, p.31.
     
15. Anthony JC, Warner LA, Kessler RC. Comparative Epidemiology of Dependence on Tobacco, Alcohol, Controlled Substances and Inhalants: Basic Findings from the National Comorbidity Survey. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 1994, Vol. 2, pp. 244–268.
     
16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reasons for Tobacco Use and Symptoms of Nicotine Withdrawal Among Adolescent and Young Adult Tobacco Users-United States, 1993. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1994, Vol. 43, pp. 746–750.
     
17. Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress, Pursuant to the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. Issued 1996.
     
18. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994, pp. 34–38

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This page last reviewed October 08, 2004

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