Tobacco Documents Online

INCIDENCE OF YOUTH SMOKING e:c~.o "~_,a aL:,es blared *.h.at teenage :lJtt1:1;,, ,.: L^~iung and drug u,e w'ere on tt;t'- r15r ,1 a recenuv reieased federal - ~ . c.' .", -~~rcc:~~ ,. :.igh s.hooi sen:ors reported v_flillg at µh[., iast tt'n ~ ears or : : .. .'. . . ~ . r: . .. up«'ard trenc; smoku:g vcne recierar Sur. Nv rrported that rt :,5:, ~,ncx~l sC-ruors reported usinK illicit .;up,s ;r the fa~t morth --, sharp nse tTcr.•: the 14.4 -ercmt :.':e -ar L-frre %';,re ttun haif of the 1'':.`t +er~ ry-c;r:ra al,;,:•,; u>e rn the lasr tturtv "J, a;~ -• out the sar*me as last vear. ,'.e s r. ~. rn ^?d a:.; nlutuinK dlsapErc,al of smckrnb ~ the ra~jon'- ~~,uth. SliJ.,lrtlv more than ~G percent of :2Lh bs aaers resp<.~nded that they disapproved of people 1~' or o,c:er smowng Ltr;e or more packs of cigarettes : cont,ast to the SCtier.rng Ot percepeons about the :ar.be:-9 be::eved to be associated with the use of rilegal '.rvQs. the "perce~ t on of the dangers associated k~th ,mokin~ 11 anVthing, risen slight:v t)~ er the past two ,,ears,"~3id the re-searcher9. More than two-tturtis of high -choo; -tuvors r"ponded that they thought there was ,"great rsk" in smoking orte or mow packs of cigarettes per dav -put~;.ng srnoking in the same "grest risk" :atefie^, a3 mariiuana, crack cocais*, herotn and LSD. .1-1tt:er wtrent federal reporn indicate the vast maprity of ;•oungsters - nearly 85 percent of those between the ages or 12 and 18 - do not smoke. It is reported Lhat 15 1 per- P t of teens smoke, but less than 6.5 percent smokP daily. (Table 2) . TABLE 1: SM.OIQNC TR.ENDs AMONG H1GH SCHOOt SEMORS 187 19 5 18 7 1R 7 18 1 1`S.y 1q 1 18.5 17.2 19.0 1111111111 'E.3 '84 '85 't4 6 '87 'M8 '89 '90 'Q 1 '92 'y3 It is important to remember when one hears that 16 percent of those between the ages of 12 and 18 are "current smokers". 1) the definition of a"current smokrr" is any youngster who has smoked a single cis;arette in the preceding rranth, whether or not the youngster smokes regularly. 2) that includes a sign;.f:cant portion for whom smoking is legal since the mi.nimum age for cigarette purchase is 18 in most states. While there have been differences in the overall smoking raties for giris and boys during the past twenty years, those margins have been, according to the federal govern- merlt, for the most part statistically indistinguishable for the last twenty years. Tlie latest figures show a difference of less than one percent between the sexes with boys at 16.1 percent and giris at 15.4 percent. TABLE 2: INCIDEIVCE OF YOLTI'H SMOKING Agt 'Smoker" Dai1y Smoker Al112-18 15.7% 618% ~ 12•13 7 3 61 14-15 . 13.1 . 3.58 C,O 15-i8 24.9 11.85 ~ ~ (continued on back) C.n ta rc~r rnc,lr~1r t.lilecl intc.>rr~i~lllclrl crn f11t i-5u~` ,2n~i c)tflt'rti, ~()t1t:~1Ct u5 ~ll

• "}L,O i7v r'tucri more (lki2l'. ., ^r cMkef~ !.~~•i(l :tt,er ~~;;}~; ; Ft 5panres. but the d iterertte Det«t~tn t~-r' ;e?'eEs i,i rztTQrnPI` <Cikill. St3tlst1e5 f U[711~E7t~Cj ;l:Sr d ~~r ~,~; gr.ew 17 ^ r errer:t ot whtte t~,% 5 and t." 4 Fnrce^t ,t white t,nris are smokers. =. rblack % outh. the `Jl;fecVtiCe ts a hit Zrrater w rh ~? Dt 'L-:,vs :nd jusr ; ~ percent ai ,nokers "'',2 r3tes ;or H:spanjc •, oun,Dters srr !c.4ti•er .r ~. ~ to: .~ `t tes uut ~,igher thRn th: 3-e tvr .;n n,' ,mukrrs c.ui t-v found zirnong b;~s at rtrce^.; a n,; s;;r;s at 1 i B ps-ercrnt. 0