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Quit Smoking Teen Support - Lung USA

By American Lung Association

April 2006

Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence produces significant health problems among young people, including cough and phlegm production, an increase in the number and severity of respiratory illnesses, decreased physical fitness, an unfavorable lipid profile and potential retardation in the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function. Most importantly this is when an addiction forms which often persists into adulthood.¹

Tobacco use primarily begins in early adolescence. One-third of all smokers had their first cigarette by the age of 14. Ninety percent of all smokers begin before the age of 21.²

Each day, 6,000 children under 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette. Almost 2,000 of them will become regular smokers - that's 757,000 annually.³

If current tobacco use patterns persist, an estimated 6.4 million current children smokers will eventually die prematurely from a smoking-related disease.⁴

Although smoking rates among high school students increased 32 percent between 1991 and 1997, rates have declined by almost 40% since 1997. In 2004, 22% of high school students were current smokers.⁵

In 2004, 11.7 percent of middle school students smoked.⁶

After a dramatic increase in teen cigar smoking throughout the 80s and early 90s cigar smoking declined 30% since 1997. In 2004, 12.8 percent of high school students and 5.2 percent of middle school students were current cigar users.⁷

In 2004, 6.0 percent of all high school students and 2.9 percent of middle school students used smokeless tobacco.8 Although smokeless tobacco use previously was uncommon among adolescents, older teens began using it between 1970 and 1985, at the same time that the smokeless tobacco industry was strengthening their marketing efforts.⁹

Other tobacco products used by high school and middle school students includes pipes (3.1% and 2.6%), bidis^I (2.6% and 2.3%) and kreteks^II (2.3% and 1.5%).¹⁰

Tobacco use is associated with alcohol and illicit drug use, and acts as a "gateway drug." Adolescents (12-17 year olds) who reported having smoked in the past 30 days were three times more likely to use alcohol, eight times more likely to smoke marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine, within those past 30 days than those 12-17 year olds who had not smoked during that time.¹¹

Tobacco use in adolescence is also associated with a range of other risky, health-compromising behaviors, including being involved in fights, carrying weapons, engaging in high-risk sexual behavior, and using alcohol and other drugs.¹²

People who begin smoking at an early age are more likely to develop severe levels of nicotine addiction than those who start at a later age. Of adolescents who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, most of them report that they would like to quit, but are not able to do so.¹³

In 2000, 59 percent of high school and 60 percent of middle school students who smoked seriously tried to quit smoking. In 2003, 61 percent of high school students said they wanted to stop smoking and 54 percent seriously tried to quit.¹⁴

Peers, siblings, and friends are powerful influences. The most common situation for first trying a cigarette is with a friend who already smokes.¹⁵

Youth who have two parents who smoke are more than twice as likely as youth without smoking parents to become smokers. More than 6 million youth (23 percent) are exposed to secondhand smoke daily, and more than 10 million youth aged 12 to 18 live in a household with at least one smoker.¹⁶

Among middle school students who were current smokers, 71% reported never being asked to show proof of age when buying cigarettes in a store, and 66% were not refused purchase because of their age.¹⁷

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement prohibited tobacco companies from advertising their product in markets that target people younger than 18 years of age. However, this ban has not sufficiently accomplished its intended goal of curtailing tobacco exposure in children.¹⁸

Cigarette advertisements tend to emphasize youthful vigor, sexual attraction and independence themes, which appeal to teenagers and young adults struggling with these issues. A recent study found that 34% of teens begin smoking as a result of tobacco company promotional activities.¹⁹

Another study found that 52 percent of teens with non-smoking parents started smoking because of exposure to smoking in movies.²⁰

For more information on tobacco and teens, please review the Tobacco Morbidity and Mortality Trend Report and Lung Disease Data in the Data and Statistics section of our website or call the American Lung Association at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872).

Footnotes:
I. Bidis (pronounced "bee-dees") are small, thin hand-rolled cigarettes
II. Kreteks (pronounced "cree-techs") are sometimes referred to as clove cigarettes.

Sources:

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. 1994.
2. Mowery PD, Brick PD, Farrelly MC. Legacy First Look Report 3. Pathways to Established Smoking: Results from the 1999 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Washington DC: American Legacy Foundation. October 2000.
3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Overview of Findings from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2003.
4. CDC. Office of Smoking and Health, 2002 calculations based upon: Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost - United States, July 2005.. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1997; 46: 444-451.
5. CDC. Cigarette Use Among High School Students - United States, 1991-2003. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2004; 53(23): 499-502.
6. CDC. Tobacco Use, Access & Exposure to Tobacco Among Middle & High School Students, US 2004 MMWR. Vol. 54(12) April 2005.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. 1994.
10. CDC. Tobacco Use, Access & Exposure to Tobacco Among Middle & High School Students, US 2004 MMWR. Vol. 54(12) April 2005.
11. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. 1994.
12. Ibid.
13. American Legacy Foundation. 2000 National Youth Tobacco Survey. 2001.
14. American Legacy Foundation. 2000 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2001. National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2004.
15. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General. 1994.
16. Farrelly MC, Chen J, Thomas KY, Healton CG. National Youth Tobacco Survey, Lagacy First Look Report 6. Youth Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke. Washington DC: American Legacy Foundation. May 2001.
17. American Legacy Foundation. 2004 National Youth Tobacco Survey. 2005
18. King C, Siegel M. The Master Settlement Agreement with the Tobacco Industry and Cigarette Advertising in Magazines. New England Journal of Medicine 2001; 345: 504-511.
19. Pierce JP, Choi WS, Gilpin EA et al. Tobacco Industry Promotion of Cigarettes and Adolescent Smoking. Journal of the American Medical Association 1998; 279(7): 511-515.
20. Dalton, M.A.; Sargent, J.D.; Beach, M.L.; et al. Effects of Viewing Smoking in Movies on Adolescent Smoking Initiation: A Cohort Study. Lancet 2003; 362: 4999.