Cigarette Smoking

In 2009, cigarette smoking among adolescents reached the lowest levels recorded in the past 34 years, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study. Between 2009 and 2010, there was a non-significant increase in the overall percentage of high school students to have smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days from 12.7 percent in 2009 to 12.8 percent in 2010. This increase in current cigarette use occurred among both 8th and 10th graders, from 6.5 percent to 7.1 percent and 13.1 percent to 13.6 percent, respectively. During this same period a small decline was observed among 12th graders (20.1 percent to 19.2 percent).¹

The percent of teens who report smoking in the past month began a rapid increase in the early 1990s, with the rates among 8th and 10th grade students reaching a peak in 1996 (at 21.0 and 30.4 percent, respectively), and the rate among 12th grade students peaking a year later (36.5 percent). These increases occurred in virtually every sociodemographic group: male and female, those with and without plans for college attendance, those living in all four regions of the country, and those of different racial and ethnic groups. Since peaking in the mid-1990s, overall rates of smoking in the past month have dropped 66 percent among 8th grade students, 55 percent among 10th grade students, and 47 percent among 12th grade students.

Despite a population-wide decline, certain subgroups of adolescents were still more likely than others to smoke. In 2009-2010, non-Hispanic White students were the most likely to report smoking in the past month, followed by Hispanic students. Also, males were more likely than females to smoke, and adolescents without plans to attend a four-year college program are more likely to smoke than their college-bound peers.

1 Johnston, LD, O’Malley, PM, Bachman, JG, & Schulenberg, JE. (December 14, 2010). “Smoking stops declining and shows signs of increasing among younger teens.” University of Michigan News Service: Ann Arbor, MI. Available at: Monitoring the Future . Accessed July 2011.

This image is described in the Data section.

This image is described in the Data section.