Recent studies report that teenage smoking has been steadily declining and that teenage smoking rates have fallen by one-third to more than one-half among secondary school students. In the 30 years that Monitoring the Future Surveys have been in place, there have been wide fluctuations in the smoking habits of American teens. These changes will have long lasting impact on the eventual health and longevity of each of these successive classes of young people.

 

    The decrease in teen smoking can be attributed in part to the master settlement agreement that was reached between the state Attorney General and the major tobacco manufacturers; certain types of cigarette advertising, including the Jo Camel campaign and billboard advertising were stopped. Large national anti-smoking ad campaigns, as well as many state level campaigns were also initiated. In addition, a substantial increase in the price of cigarettes took place, partly because of state cigarette taxes, but also due to the tobacco companies’ attempts to cover the costs of the tobacco settlements.
Today teenagers are showing a higher disapproval of smoking and are more aware of the dangers of smoking. Despite this recent progress, there remains a need for more research and for anti-smoking programs designed both to prevent teens from starting to smoke and to help them quit.

 

The media plays a large part in tempting teens to smoke. They show young, cool, beautiful people with lots of money smoking cigarettes, which can tempt a teenager to try to imitate the character in the movie because they want to be cool too.

 

    Teenagers continue to obtain cigarettes from friends, family members, and convenience stores, even though cigarette sales are prohibited to people under the age of 18, and are more responsive to cigarette price increases than adults are. A ten percent increase in the price of cigarettes is estimated to reduce youth smoking by five percent or more, according to the National Institute of Health (National Institute of Health).

 

    Sustained programs work when they address the full range of influences on youth tobacco use, such as active parent and community involvement, school-based programs, tobacco-free policies, and media to counter tobacco smoking (Trends in Teen Smoking).

 

    While the decline in teen smoking is encouraging news, experts and parents remain concerned that a substantial number of teens are still smoking. According to the 2005 Monitoring the Future Survey, nearly a quarter of teenagers are smoking by the time they leave high school and that presently approximately one in eleven  8th graders (9.3 percent) indicate smoking in the prior 30 days as well as one in every seven 10th graders, and nearly one in four 12th graders.

 

Although the recent decreases in smoking have more than offset the substantial rise in the smoking seen in the 1990’s, current rates are still far higher than parents and the public health community would like to see (National Institute of Health). Healthy People 2010, the government’s comprehensive set of health objectives for the Nation have a goal to reduce the percent of current teen smokers to 16 percent by the year 2010. This objective along with active parent and community involvement, school-based programs, tobacco-free policies, and the media will help keep our teens from picking up the deadly habit of smoking cigarettes.

Works Cited
“National Institute of Health” Recent Progress in Decreasing Youth Tobacco Use. 2004.
    21 Aug. 2006 http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/apr2004/nci-02.htm
“Trends in Teen Drinking” Psychiatry Online. 2005. 21 Aug. 2006
    http://pn.psychiatryonline.org
 

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