September 25, 2003
Contact:
Janet Wilson
573/751-522-2820
Some Missouri school children feel they “need a
cigarette every day.”
Missouri kids believe
that tobacco is as addictive as cocaine or heroin, yet most have gone ahead and
tried it anyway, according to a ground-breaking study recently conducted by the
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The study also found that a high percentage
of Missouri kids who use tobacco reported being part of a culture of tobacco
use.
“We should
not shrug off these findings with a usual kids-will-be-kids reaction,” said
Janet Wilson, chief of the DHSS Health Promotion Unit. “This is a youthful
indiscretion that many of our children will not outgrow.”
Wilson
said this study was undertaken because similar studies of adults have found
that 80 percent of adult regular smokers actually begin the habit before the
age of 18. This new study, called the Missouri 2003 Youth Tobacco Survey, used
self-reported data obtained from approximately 3,000 randomly selected Missouri
middle and high school students. This is the first study to document the
influences and beliefs about tobacco and tobacco use among Missouri youth.
Researchers
found that almost all Missouri middle and high school students believe a person
can get addicted to tobacco the same as with cocaine or heroin, yet almost half
(44%) of Missouri middle school students and more than half (66%) of Missouri
high school students have used some form of tobacco.
The study
also found that the overwhelming percentage of students who consider themselves
to be current smokers have much more exposure to smoking than do students who
have never smoked. Among current smokers in middle school, 90% reported that
one or more of their closest friends also smoked. Only 17% of nonsmoking middle
school children reported having a close friend who was a smoker. The percentage (85%) of middle school current
smokers who reported having recently ridden in a car with someone who was
smoking was more than twice the percentage (40%) of nonsmoking students who had
that experience. These types of comparisons were similar for high school
students: for instance, almost all (86%) high school current smokers reported
having ridden in a car with someone who was smoking in the past week, compared
with less than a third (32%) of high school nonsmokers who had done that.
Another
striking disparity between school-age smokers and nonsmokers is found in their embrace
of tobacco company advertising. Among
middle school nonsmokers, barely 15 percent said they would sport a tobacco
company logo, whereas almost two-thirds (62%) of the middle school smokers
would do so. The difference was almost
identical for high school respondents: a mere 19 percent of nonsmokers,
compared to 63 percent of smokers, said they would have no qualms about wearing
or using anything with a tobacco company name or picture on it.
The study
also documents evidence of how quickly the use of tobacco can become
habit-forming. Among the current-smoker students, almost a third (32%) of
middle and nearly half (45%) of high school kids reported feeling like they
needed a cigarette every day. More than half of middle (52%) and almost two-thirds
(61%) of high school students reported having tried to quit smoking at least
once during the 12 months prior to the survey.
“These results may be shocking, but they are
not really surprising,” Wilson said. “We realize how impressionable young
people are. As health professionals and
community leaders, we need to encourage and adopt policies and curriculum that
reflects this reality. And we can’t
afford,” Wilson continued, “to ignore the reality that Missouri has some of the
highest rates of smoking, which is the leading cause of death and disease and
is totally preventable.”
Additional
findings from the study, “Tobacco Use
Among Missouri Youth,” can be found on the DHSS website at: http://www.dhss.state.mo.us/SmokingAndTobacco/Youth_Use.pdf
or a printed copy can
be obtained by calling the DHSS’ Tobacco Use Prevention Program, toll-free at
1-866-726-9926.
##