Chronic Disease - Burden of Chronic Diseases 2004 - Risk Factors/Preventive Services

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Section III

Risk Factors and Use of Preventive Services, United States

NOTE: This document is provided for historical purposes only.

Cigarette Smoking Among High School Students

Preventing tobacco use among young people is critical to the overall goal of reducing the prevalence of smoking. Almost all smokers begin smoking during their teenage years. Every year, nearly three quarters of a million young people become regular smokers. If current patterns continue, more than 6 million young people who are regular smokers will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease. Factors associated with young people using tobacco include nicotine dependence, public attitudes about smoking, tobacco marketing, and peer and parental influences.

According to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), every day 4,100 young people aged 12-17 try cigarettes for the first time.
SAMHSA also reports that, among all people who ever smoked cigarettes, the average age at which they first smoked was 15.4 years.
In 2001, 29% of U.S. high school students reported having smoked a cigarette in the last month.
The percentage of high school students who reported having smoked a cigarette in the last month in the states that collected this information in 2001 ranged from 8% in Utah to 35% in Arkansas and North Dakota.

Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Cigarette Smoking,* 2001

^* Smoked cigarettes on 1 or more of the 30 days preceding the survey.
Source: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

[A text description of this map is also available.]

**Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Current Cigarette Smoking,* by Sex, Race, and Ethnicity, 2001**

State^†	Total	Male	Female	White	Black^‡	Hispanic^‡	Other^‡

ALABAMA	23.7	24.7	22.7	30.0	11.6	-	-
ALASKA
ARIZONA
ARKANSAS	34.7	37.0	32.1	38.3	22.4	-	-
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO^§	26.7	24.3	29.3	22.9	-	36.8	-
CONNECTICUT
DELAWARE	24.2	24.7	23.4	28.4	12.7	27.4	23.3
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	13.1	15.5	11.1	-	12.7	12.9	12.7
FLORIDA	21.5	19.9	22.9	26.7	8.9	21.8	23.5
GEORGIA
HAWAII^§	15.0	11.0	18.0	15.5	-	-	14.7
IDAHO	19.1	20.7	17.1	18.7	-	18.0	22.7
ILLINOIS^§1	25.3	23.5	26.6	27.4	-	-	-
INDIANA^§	28.5	29.3	27.5	29.8	-	-	-
IOWA^§	29.7	29.7	29.5	29.7	-	-	-
KANSAS
KENTUCKY^§	33.0	32.0	34.1	34.6	-	-	-
LOUISIANA^§2	25.0	27.4	23.0	37.6	9.9	-	-
MAINE	24.8	23.0	26.6	25.1	-	-	20.8
MARYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS	26.0	25.0	27.0	28.0	16.4	19.8	23.8
MICHIGAN	25.7	24.0	27.2	27.6	12.1	28.3	27.5
MINNESOTA
MISSISSIPPI	23.6	22.4	24.6	33.8	12.6	-	-
MISSOURI	30.3	30.1	30.4	32.6	14.4	-	-
MONTANA	28.5	25.4	31.8	25.7	-	-	53.0
NEBRASKA^§	30.5	29.3	31.6	30.5	-	-
NEVADA	25.2	24.6	25.8	26.4	-	25.4	32.5
NEW HAMPSHIRE^§	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
NEW JERSEY	29.4	29.7	28.9	31.7	17.4	33.5	25.7
NEW MEXICO
NEW YORK^§3	29.8	26.7	32.8	30.5	-	-	-
NORTH CAROLINA	27.8	28.4	27.2	31.9	19.2	26.5	24.4
NORTH DAKOTA	35.3	34.7	35.5	33.8	-	-	-
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
RHODE ISLAND	24.8	24.1	25.6	27.4	13.5	13.1	32.3
SOUTH CAROLINA^§	27.6	28.6	26.8	34.7	16.5	-	31.8
SOUTH DAKOTA	33.1	31.6	34.4	29.5	-	-	57.1
TENNESSEE^§	29.1	29.9	28.4	35.8	12.0	-	-
TEXAS	28.4	31.8	24.9	30.6	13.6	30.8	33.7
UTAH	8.3	7.1	9.6	8.0	-	-	18.2
VERMONT	23.7	21.2	26.0	NA	NA	NA	NA
VIRGINIA
WASHINGTON
WEST VIRGINIA
WISCONSIN	32.6	28.6	36.7	33.5	17.0	-	34.8
WYOMING	28.4	27.0	29.6	27.5	-	33.7	38.5

UNITED STATES	28.5	29.2	27.7	31.9	14.7	26.6	24.5

^* Smoked cigarettes on 1 or more of the 30 days preceding the survey.
^† States with no data shown did not conduct a Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2001.
^‡ A dash indicates that the state sample had too few respondents (fewer than 100) in this category to calculate a stable estimate.
^§ Unweighted data
NA - State did not ask this specific question or data not available.
¹ Excludes students from Chicago
² Excludes students from New Orleans
³ Excludes students from New York City
Source: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Page last reviewed: October 31, 2005
Page last modified: October 31, 2005
Archive Date: April 8, 2008

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion