MMWR — Trends in Cigarette Smoking Among High
School Students — United States, 1991–2001
Press Release
May
17, 2002 / Vol. 51 / No. 19
ATLANTA—A new report by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that although more than one in
four U.S. high school students still smoke cigarettes, rates among this
group have been declining since 1997. These findings are from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), part
of CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which is a school-based
survey that collects data from students in grades 9-12 nationwide.
According to the report, 28.5 percent of high
school students in the U.S. currently smoke, down from 36.4 percent in 1997. Current smoking is defined as having smoked on one or more of the 30 days preceding the survey. Lifetime use also has declined. In 1999, CDC reported that 70.4 percent of high school students had
tried cigarette smoking during their lives. By 2001, that number had fallen to 63.9 percent. The report concludes that if this pattern continues, the United
States could achieve the 2010 national health objective of reducing current
smoking rates among high school students to 16 percent or less.
“It is encouraging to see more and more
teens making the right choice about smoking.” Said Dr. David Fleming,
acting
director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We hope this trend continues because it would mean fewer people
suffering and dying from smoking-related illnesses.”
The data from this report are consistent with
other national surveys that suggest the dramatic increase in cigarette
smoking rates among high school students during the 1990s is now reversing. Factors that might have contributed to the decline in cigarette use
include a 70 percent increase
of
the retail price of cigarettes between
December 1997 and May 2001, increases in school-based efforts to prevent
tobacco use, and increases in youth exposure to both state and national mass
media smoking prevention campaigns.
“While we have made some undeniable progress in reducing the
teen smoking rates, now is not the time to rest upon our laurels” warned
Rosemarie Henson, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “Since cigarette prices may not continue to increase, a greater
emphasis will need to be put on the school-based efforts and media campaigns
that have proven effective as part of comprehensive tobacco control programs
so that we can help the next generation of children to remain smoke-free.”
Dr. Lloyd Kolbe,
director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, indicated that
“from 1994 to 2000 the percentage of school districts nationwide that
required schools to teach tobacco use prevention increased from 83 to 92
percent and the percentage of middle and senior high schools with an ideal
tobacco-free school policy increased from 37 to 46 percent.”
Other findings from the study
include
-
Current frequent smoking, defined as
smoking on at least 20 of the 30 days preceding the survey, decreased
from 16.8 percent in 1999 to 13.8 percent in 2001.
-
In 2001, as in previous years, white and Hispanic students were significantly more likely than
black students to report current smoking.
The
YRBS, which began in 1990 and has been conducted biennially since 1991,
includes questions on a wide variety of health-related risk behaviors
including smoking. YRBSS
findings are available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/index.htm.
The YRBS is one of
three major surveys sponsored by HHS that provide data on tobacco and other
substance use among youth. The other two are the National Household Survey
on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) and the Monitoring the Future Survey (MTFS).
The
NHSDA, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, is a primary source of statistical information on illicit
drug use in the U.S. population 12 years of age and older. Conducted
periodically from 1971 and annually since 1990, the NHSDA collects data in
household interviews. NHSDA
findings for 2000 are available at http://www.drugabusestatistics.samhsa.gov.
The
MTFS, conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social
Research and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has
tracked tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use and attitudes toward drugs
among 12th grade students since 1975. In 1991, 8th and 10th grade students
were added to the study. Findings are available at http://www.drugabuse.gov/DrugPages/MTF.html.
While it is
somewhat difficult to make comparisons
because
of differences in survey methods
and time periods, the findings of all three HHS surveys are consistent with
respect to smoking trends, indicating that teen smoking rates appear to have
peaked during the late 1990s and are now declining.
The results of the YRBS survey
will appear in the May
17 issue of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.More information on CDC’s tobacco control activities can be
found at CDC’s OSH
Web
site at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/.
MMWR — Trends in Cigarette
Smoking Among High School Students — United States, 1991–2001 51(19)
May
17, 2002
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