Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students—United States, 2002

November 14, 2003 / Vol. 52 / No. 45

MMWR Highlights

High School Students

• Tobacco use among high school students declined significantly from 34.5% in 2000 to 28.4% in 2002.
• Cigarette smoking, the most common use of tobacco among high school students, declined significantly from 28% in 2000 to 22.9% in 2002. There were no differences by gender for cigarette smoking among high school students in 2002.
• In 2002, cigarette use by race/ethnic groups was higher among white high school students (25.5%) followed by Hispanic (20.5%) and African American (14.3%) students.
• Cigars were the second most prevalent (11.6%) type of tobacco used among high school students in 2002. Nearly one of 6 male students (16.9%) had used cigars compared to about 1 of 16 female students (6.2%) in the past month.
• The use of bidis (2.6%), kreteks (2.7%), and pipes (3.2%) among high school students was each about 3%, compared to 6.1% for smokeless tobacco use in 2002.
• Male (10.8%) high school students were significantly more likely to use smokeless tobacco products than female (1.4%) high school students.

Middle School Students

• From 2000 to 2002, among middle school students, there was no significant decline in use of tobacco products overall (13.3%) or for any individual tobacco product.
• Males were more likely than females to use all of the tobacco products, except for cigarettes (10.2% and 10% respectively).
• Cigarettes (10.1%) were the most commonly used type of tobacco among middle school students in 2002.
• From 2000 to 2002, there were no significant declines in smoking rates for middle school students in all racial/ethnic groups.
• The smoking rate among middle school students by race/ethnic groups was relatively equal, with about one of ten, white (10.4%), African American (9.4%), and Hispanic (9.1%), middle school students reporting smoking cigarettes in the past month.
• Cigars were the second most prevalent (6%) type of tobacco used among middle school students in 2002. Male students (7.9%) were more likely to use cigars in the past month, as compared to females (4.1%).