Schools Can Help Teach our Youth to Live Tobacco Free

Smoking and smokeless tobacco use are almost always initiated and established during adolescence. Most people who begin smoking during adolescence are addicted by the age of 20.

Tobacco use, including cigarette smoking, cigar smoking, and smokeless tobacco use, remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Each year cigarette smoking accounts for approximately 1 of every 5 deaths, or about 443,000 people. Despite the dangers, every day, approximately 3,900 American youth aged 12-17 try their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,000 young people become daily cigarette smokers. In 2007, 20% of high schools students reported current cigarette use and 14% reported current cigar use. In addition, 8% of high school students and 18% of white male high school students reported current smokeless tobacco use.

Smoking and smokeless tobacco use are almost always initiated and established during adolescence. Most people who begin smoking during adolescence are addicted by the age of 20. Evidence suggests that school health programs can prevent tobacco use among youth. If your child's school doesn't have a prevention program, talk to administrators about starting one. Not sure how? Here are a few ideas.

• Create Tobacco-Free Environments
  Research shows that comprehensive school-based, tobacco-use prevention programs are most likely to be effective when schools develop and enforce a school policy that prohibits tobacco use at all times, by anyone on school property, in school vehicles and those used for school purposes and at school-sponsored events, both on and off school property.
• Strengthen Collaborations with the Broader Community
  Community programs and school-based policies and interventions should be part of a comprehensive effort, implemented in coordination across the community and school environments.
• Include Everyone
  Provide quality health education that addresses tobacco-use prevention to students and provide professional development and training for teachers. Involve parents, families, and the community in support of school based programs to prevent tobacco use.
• Lend a Helping Hand
  Provide support for tobacco-use cessation efforts among students and school staff who use tobacco.

For a comprehensive guide on developing programs, see Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction.

Protecting youth health is part of CDC's overall public health mission. For more information on adolescent health, smoking, or chronic disease prevention, read the April 2009 issue of Preventing Chronic Disease. Articles in this issue include:

• Area-Level Variation in Adolescent Smoking
• Parental Perspectives on Antismoking Discussions with Adolescents in Rural African American Households, May 2004–January 2005
• Risk and Protective Factors for Tobacco Use among 8th- and 10th-Grade African American Students in Virginia

More Information

• CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health
• CDC Office on Smoking and Health
• Preventing Chronic Disease