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TEENS AND TOBACCO
Facts Not Fiction
>> Every day in the United States, more than 3,000 young people become regular smokers—that’s more than one million new smokers a year.1
>> After years of remaining steady, 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, past-month smoking increased from 14.3% to 21.0% among eighth graders and from 20.8% to 30.4% among tenth graders.2
>> More than 5 million young people under the age of 18 who are currently alive will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease.3
>> In adults, cigarette smoking causes heart disease and stroke. Studies have shown that early signs of the blood vessel damage present in these diseases can be found in adolescents who smoke.4
>> 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.5
>> Teenage smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as often as teens who don’t smoke and produce phlegm more than twice as often as teens who don’t smoke.6
>> Smokeless tobacco use among youth 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, and esophagus.8 It may also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.9
>> In 1991, teenage cigarette smokers consumed an average of 28.3 million cigarettes per day (516 million packs per year). During this same period, an estimated 225 million packs of cigarettes were sold illegally to young people under the age of 18. The tobacco industry generated approximately $190 million in profit from the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors in 1991.10
>> In 1995, approximately 57% of students in grades 9 - 12 who currently smoked usually bought their cigarettes from a retail store, from a vending machine, or through another person who purchased cigarettes for them.7
>> Several studies have found nicotine to be addictive in ways similar to those of heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.11 Among young smokers, the transition from experimentation to dependence occurs just as frequently as it does among users of cocaine and heroin.12
>> Among adolescents aged 10 - 18, about three-fourths of daily cigarette smokers and daily smokeless tobacco users report that they continue to use tobacco because it is really hard for them to quit. About 93% of daily cigarette smokers and daily smokeless tobacco users who previously tried to quit report at least one symptom of nicotine withdrawal. Young people who try to quit smoking suffer the same withdrawal symptoms as adults who try to quit.13,14
>> 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.15
>> In 1991, about 82% of smokers who had ever smoked daily began smoking before age 18, and by that age, 53% had become daily smokers.16
>> A national survey found that about 86% of adolescent smokers who bought their own cigarettes preferred Marlboro, Camel, or Newport cigarettes—the most heavily advertised brands. In contrast, only 35% of adults chose these brands.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 high risk behaviors, including fighting and having unprotected sex.18

REFERENCES

  1. 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.
     
  2. The University of Michigan. Cigarette Smoking Among American Teens Rises Again in 1996 (press release). December 19, 1996.
     
  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. 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, 1994, p. 25.
     
  5. 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, 1994, p. 29.
     
  6. 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(No. 2), pp. 111-116.
     
  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, 1994, p. 39.
     
  9. 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.
     
  10. Cummings KM, Pechacek T, Shopland D. The Illegal Sale of Cigarettes to U.S. Minors: Estimated by State. American Journal of Public Health 1994, Vol. 84, No. 2, pp. 300-302.
     
  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, 1994, p.31.
     
  12. 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.
     
  13. 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.
     
  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, 1994, pp. 30-34.
     
  15. Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress, Pursuant to the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. Issued 1996.
     
  16. 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, 1994, p. 65.
     
  17. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Changes in Brand Preference of Adolescent Smokers---United States, 1989-1993. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1994, Vol. 43, pp. 577-581.
     
  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, 1994, pp. 34-38.

Teens and Tobacco—What's Really In?

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This page last reviewed April 08, 2003

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