A Brief Review of Adolescents and Tobacco

 The following is an abstract of an article published by:  Buttross, L. Susan MD; Kastner, Joseph W. PhD

Smoking among teenagers is a major public health problem...Peer, family, and intrapersonal factors all play a role in the continuum of initiation to regular use. Prevention programs focusing on social norms governing teenage smoking are particularly effective in reducing onset of smoking behavior. Finally, behavioral cessation programs have been shown to be effective in reducing teenage smoking.

Cigarette smoking among adolescents gradually increased during most of the 1990s, with a slight decrease in reported 30-day use beginning in 1997, continuing each year thereafter. Although this short-term trend indicating decreasing teen smoking is encouraging, approximately 30% of high school seniors continue to report tobacco use within the past 30 days and about 19% report daily cigarette smoking. Current estimates indicate that more than 4 million teens smoke, with approximately 3000 teens progressing to regular use each day. 4 Thus, teen smoking in the United States continues to be a major behavioral health problem.