https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0001.pdf
SMOKING AND KIDS
Each day, about 2,000 kids in the United States try their first cigarette; and another 300 additional
kids under 18 years of age become new regular, daily smokers. That’s more than 115,000 new
underage daily smokers in this country each year.1
The addiction rate for smoking is higher than the addiction rates for marijuana, alcohol, or cocaine;
and symptoms of serious nicotine addiction often occur only weeks or even just days after youth
“experimentation” with smoking first begins.2
Because adolescence is a critical period of growth and
development, exposure to nicotine may have lasting, adverse consequences on brain development.3
Ninety percent of adult smokers begin while in their teens, or earlier; and two-thirds become regular,
daily smokers before they reach the age of 19.4
9.7 percent of high school students are current smokers by the time they leave high school.5
7.6 percent of all high school students (grades 9–12) are current smokers, including 7.5 percent of
females and 7.6 percent of males. White high school students have the highest smoking rate (9.5%),
followed by Hispanics (6.2%) and African Americans (2.8%).6
If current smoking rates persist, 5.6 million children alive today will die prematurely from smoking.7
Roughly one-third of all youth smokers will eventually die prematurely from smoking-caused disease.8
Smoking can seriously harm kids while they are still young. Aside from the immediate bad breath,
irritated eyes and throat and increased heartbeat and blood pressure, short-term harms from youth
smoking include respiratory problems, reduced immune function, increased illness, tooth decay, gum
disease and pre-cancerous gene mutations.9
The tobacco companies spend $9.5 billion each year to promote their deadly products—nearly $26
million every day—and much of that marketing directly reaches and influences kids.10
Kids are more susceptible to cigarette advertising and marketing than adults.11 81.3 percent of youth
smokers (12–17) prefer Marlboro, Newport and Camel (the three most heavily advertised brands),
while only 62 percent of smokers 26 or older prefer these brands.12 For example, between 1989 and
1993, spending on the Joe Camel ad campaign jumped from $27 million to $43 million, which
prompted a 50 percent increase in Camel’s share of the youth market but had no impact at all on its
adult market share.13 Additionally, a survey conducted in March 2012 showed that kids were
significantly more likely than adults to recall tobacco advertising. While only 25 percent of all adults
recalled seeing a tobacco ad in the two weeks prior to the survey, 45 percent of kids aged 12 to 17
reported seeing tobacco ads.14
A Journal of the National Cancer Institute study found that teens were more likely to be influenced to
smoke by cigarette marketing than by peer pressure.15 Similarly, a Journal of the American Medical
Association study found that as much as one-third of underage experimentation with smoking was
attributable to tobacco company marketing efforts.16 In 2014, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that
“tobacco industry advertising and promotion cause youth and young adults to start smoking, and
nicotine addiction keeps people smoking past those ages.”17
More information on kids and tobacco use is available at
https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/fact-sheets/tobaccos-toll-health-harms-and-cost/tobacco-and-kids.
1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS, Results from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, NSDUH: Detailed Tables, 2018. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/cbhsqreports/NSDUHDetailedTabs2017/NSDUHDetailedTabs2017.pdf.
2 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Symptoms of Substance Dependence Associated with Use of Cigarettes, Alcohol,
and Illicit Drugs—United States 1991-1992,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) 44(44):830-831,837-839, November 10, 1995,
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00039501.htm. DiFranza, JR, et al., “Initial Symptoms of Nicotine Dependence in Adolescents,”
Tobacco Control 9:313-19, September 2000. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (TFK) factsheet, The Path to Smoking Addiction Starts at Very
Young Ages, http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0127.pdf. 3 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the
Surgeon General, 2014, http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/. See also, HHS, Prevention Tobacco Use Among
Youth and Young Adults, A Report of the Surgeon General, 2012, http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/preventing-youth-tobaccouse/index.html.
4 SAMHSA. Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2014. ICPSR36361-v1. Ann
Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-03-22. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36361.v1.; See
also, HHS, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults, A Report of the Surgeon General, 2012. HHS, Youth and Tobacco:
Preventing Tobacco Use among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General, 1994, http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/F/T/_/nnbcft.pdf (pg
49).
5 University of Michigan, Monitoring the Future Study, 2017, http://monitoringthefuture.org/data/17data/17drtbl3.pdf. 6 CDC, “Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students—United States, 2011-2017,” MMWR, 67(22): 629-633, June 7, 2018,
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/pdfs/mm6722a3-H.pdf. Current smoker defined as having smoked in the past month. The 2016
NYTS found that 8.0% of high school students smoked. The 2017 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, using a different methodology than the
NYTS, found that 8.8% of U.S. high school kids smoke.
7 HHS, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2014,
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/. 8 CDC, “Projected Smoking-Related Deaths Among Youth-United States,” MMWR 45(44):971-974, November 8, 1996,
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm4544.pdf. 9 HHS, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General, 1994,
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/F/T/_/nnbcft.pdf. See also, HHS, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults, A Report of the
Surgeon General, 2012, http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/preventing-youth-tobacco-use/index.html. TFK factsheet, Smoking’s
Immediate Effects on the Body, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0264.pdf. 10 U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Cigarette Report for 2016, 2018, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/federal-tradecommission-cigarette-report-2016-federal-trade-commission-smokeless-tobacco-report/ftc_cigarette_report_for_2016_0.pdf
[data for top 5
manufacturers only].; FTC, Smokeless Tobacco Report for 2016, 2018, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/federal-tradecommission-cigarette-report-2016-federal-trade-commission-smokeless-tobacco-report/ftc_smokeless_tobacco_report_for_2016_0.pdf
[Data
for top 5 manufacturers only].
11 Pollay, R, et al., “The Last Straw? Cigarette Advertising and Realized Market Shares Among Youths and Adults,” Journal of Marketing
60(2):1-16, April 1996.
12 SAMHSA’s public online data analysis system (PDAS), National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2015.
http://pdas.samhsa.gov/#/survey/NSDUH-2015-
DS0001/crosstab/?row=CIG30BR2&column=CATAG2&weight=ANALWT_C&results_received=true. Another survey, the 2016 NYTS, found
that 78.7% of high school students prefer these three brands. CDC, “Cigarette Brand Preference and Pro-Tobacco Advertising Among Middle
and High School Students—United States, 2012-2016,” MMWR, 67(4): 119-124, February 2, 2018,
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/pdfs/mm6704a3-H.pdf. 13 CDC, “Changes in the Cigarette Brand Preference of Adolescent Smokers, U.S. 1989-1993,” MMWR 43(32):577-581, August, 1994,
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00032326.htm. 14 National telephone survey of 536 teens aged 12-17 conducted March 14-20, 2012 and 1,004 adults conducted March 14-20, 2012 by
International Communications Research and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points for the teen survey and 3.1
percentage points for the adult survey.
15 Evans, N, et al., “Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking,” Journal of the National
Cancer Institute, October 1995. 16 Pierce JP, et al., “Tobacco Industry Promotion of Cigarettes and Adolescent Smoking,” Journal of the American Medical Association
279(7):511-505, February 1998 [with erratum in JAMA 280(5):422, August 1998]. 17 HHS, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2014,
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/.
Help Americans Quit Smoking in November
Most adult smokers in the U.S. – 7 out of 10 – want to quit smoking completely. That’s good news for us
in the cardiovascular field as smoking causes one out of every three cardiovascular disease-related
deaths. This November, make it a priority to help Americans quit smoking this month.
Breaking the nicotine habit has health benefits no matter how long a person has smoked. Studies show
that an individual’s blood pressure and heart rate recover within 20 minutes of their last cigarette.
Within 2 weeks to 3 months, those who quit smoking have improved circulation and lung function. In a
year, their risk for coronary heart disease reduces by 50 percent. And, after five years, their risk of
stroke is similar to that of non-smokers.
If you know someone who is trying to quit, be sure to share these tried and true tips:
Call the CDC’s Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW
Talk to a physician about local tobacco cessation resources
Set a quit date, make a plan, and ask your family and friends for support to carry it through
Sign up for Quit Tobacco for motivational messages via text
Quitting smoking isn’t easy. But it’s an important to step to improving Americans’ health. Not only can quitting smoking reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease – it also reduces the risk of other diseasesincluding cancer, COPD, and diabetes. So, this November, help someone quit by focusing on the “S” inthe ABCS of cardiovascular disease prevention.
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