Cigarette use among high school students dropped drastically over three decades, but older adolescents are more inclined to try cigarettes than their younger counterparts. Photo credit: Needpix
Cigarette consumption among US adolescents significantly declined over a span of three decades.
A recent study by researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine focused on cigarette usage patterns of high school students in grades nine to twelve.
Study findings published in the Ochsner Journal online ahead of print, showed a significant reduction in cigarette smoking across all usage categories (ever, occasional, frequent, and daily) from 1991 to 2021.
- Ever use: Decreased from 70.1% in 1991 to 17.8% in 2021, marking an almost fourfold decline.
- Occasional use: Decreased from 27.5% in 1991 to 3.8% in 2021, representing a greater than sevenfold decline.
- Frequent use: Decreased from 12.7% in 1991 to 0.7% in 2021, demonstrating a greater than eighteenfold decline.
- Daily use: Declined from 9.8% in 1991 to 0.6% in 2021, a greater than sixteenfold decline.
Despite the significant decrease in cigarette use across all age groups, the study found that 12th graders consistently reported the highest percentage of occasional smokers compared to other school grades, even in 2021. This suggests that while smoking has decreased across all age groups, older adolescents might still be more inclined to experiment with cigarettes than their younger counterparts.
Inequalities in cigarette use among adolescents by gender have been evident for decades. However, by 2021, discrepancies in smoking cigarettes by gender were diminished. In terms of race/ethnicity, by 2021 the decrease in cigarette consumption was notably more pronounced among Black and Asian adolescents, while the rates among white and Hispanic/Latino youth remained higher but were still significantly lower than 1997 rates.