Florida Atlantic: Decline in Teen Smoking

Cigarette smoking remains the leading avoidable cause of premature death in the U.S., accounting for approximately 500,000 deaths or 1 in 5 deaths annually. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, most adults who smoke cigarettes started before age 18, so preventing cigarette smoking in adolescents is important to reducing smoking in adults.

Encouragingly, research from Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine found a dramatic decline in teen smoking from 1991 to 2021. The research was conducted among a large sample of U.S. adolescents in grades nine to 12. It also explored differences by gender as well as race/ethnicity.

Cigarette smoking measures included: ever tried cigarette smoking, which was defined as taking even one or two puffs; currently smoked cigarettes occasionally; currently smoked cigarettes frequently; and currently smoked cigarettes daily.

The researchers discovered that cigarette smoking in all usage categories (ever, occasional, frequent and daily) significantly decreased throughout the three decades. Key findings from the study revealed:

• Ever use cigarettes significantly decreased from 70.1 percent in 1991 to 17.8 percent in 2021, an almost fourfold decline.
• Occasional cigarette use significantly decreased from 27.5 percent in 1991 to 3.8 percent in 2021, a greater than sevenfold decline.
• Frequent cigarette use significantly decreased from 12.7 percent to 0.7 percent, a greater than eighteenfold decline.
• Daily cigarette use decreased from 9.8 percent in 1991 to 0.6 percent in 2021, a greater than sixteenfold decline.

Interestingly, while all grades experienced a significant decline in cigarette use, 12th graders consistently reported the highest percentage of occasional smokers compared to the other school grades, even in 2021. This finding suggests that while smoking has decreased across all age groups, older adolescents might still be more prone to experimenting with cigarettes than their younger counterparts.

“The substantial decrease in cigarette use among U.S. adolescents spanning three decades is an encouraging public health achievement,” said Panagiota “Yiota” Kitsantas, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Population Health and Social Medicine in the College of Medicine. “This decrease underscores the importance of continued vigilance, research and intervention to further reduce tobacco use and its associated harms.”