Flickr photo by Valentin Ottone
Although tobacco use among teens has dropped over the past decade, the trend has slowed in recent years, suggesting a greater need for tobacco prevention efforts, a U.S. government study has found.
In 2009, 8.2 percent of middle school students and 23.9 percent of high school students reported using any tobacco products, according to an analysis of a national tobacco survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cigarettes were the most common tobacco product used, followed by cigars, smokeless tobacco and pipes. Boys were more likely than girls to use tobacco of any kind.
In middle school, Latinos reported the highest rates of tobacco use (11.1 percent), followed by blacks (8.3 percent), whites (7.1 percent) and Asians (3.6 percent). In high school, tobacco use was highest among whites (26.7 percent), followed by Latinos (24.8 percent), blacks (14 percent) and Asians (13.1 percent).
Tobacco use is generally lower among California teens than American teens overall. In 2008, 14.6 percent of California high school students and 6 percent of middle school students reported smoking, according to the state Department of Public Health.
The rate of California teens who smoke dropped dramatically from 1996 to 2004, the public health department said. But in recent years the rate has stagnated, which the state said could be a result of flattened cigarette prices.
Nationwide, the proportion of teenagers susceptible to cigarette smoking remained unchanged over the decade, which researchers said could help explain the slowing decline in smoking.
Susceptibility to smoking is an important indicator of the effectiveness of tobacco control policies, they said, suggesting that "further efforts are needed to counter tobacco industry influences on youth." More than 80 percent of adult smokers begin smoking before age 18, the report said.
A recent study published in the journal Tobacco Control said tobacco companies were turning to YouTube to market their products. TV advertising is strictly regulated, and movie portrayals of smoking are declining.
Among the most popular videos linked to major cigarette brands, 71 percent were pro-tobacco while 4 percent were anti-tobacco, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and other cigarette makers “vehemently deny advertising on the Internet,” according to the study, and there’s no way to verify whether they are responsible – either directly or indirectly – for the proliferation of smoking-related videos on YouTube. But there is some circumstantial evidence that the researchers found “disturbing:” Many of the videos appeared to be professionally made, and some included songs and images for which tobacco companies own the copyright, the authors wrote.
Comments
via Twitter