The federal Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) has issued a report titled "Trends in Cigarette Use Among Adolescents and Young Adults" which shows that cigarette use continues to decline among underage youth. This report issued by SAMSHA includes cigarette use data from 2004 to 2010 and is based on the collective responses of 157,524 individuals aged 12 to 17 during that time period.
Some of the key findings of this report are as follows:
- The percentage of underage youth who smoked daily in the past month decreased from 3.3% in 2004 to 1.9% in 2010, representing a 42% decline over this seven year period.
- The percentage of underage youth who smoked less than daily in the past month decreased from 8.6% in 2004 to 6.5% in 2010, representing a 24% decline over the study's seven year time period.
- The percentage of underage youth who smoked at some time during the past month decreased from 11.9% in 2004 to 8.3% in 2010, representing a 30% decline over this seven year time period.
The SAMSHA report concludes that "the findings in this report suggest that efforts to reduce cigarette use among adolescents and young adults are effective." One of those efforts includes the actions by responsible retailers in preventing the sale of cigarettes to underage minors.
See File Attachments below to read the full SAMSHA report.
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