Smoking Behavior Among U.S. High School Students, 1991–2011

The data in these two tables reveal many trends. For example, do you see that African American adolescents are much less likely to smoke than Hispanics or European Americans, but that this ethnic advantage is decreasing? Are you surprised to see that European American females smoke more than European American males?

Table : Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Smoking Cigarettes
Smoking Behavior 1991 1995 1999 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011
Lifetime (ever smoked) 70.1 71.3 70.4 58.4 54.3 50.3 46.3 44.7
Current (smoked at least once in past 30 days) 27.5 34.8 34.8 21.9 23.0 20.0 19.5 18.1
Current frequent (smoked 20 or more times in past 30 days) 12.7 16.1 16.8 9.7 9.4 8.1 7.3 6.4
Table : Percentage of High School Students Who Reported Smoking Cigarettes, by Sex, Ethnicity, and Grade
Characteristic 1991 1995 1999 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011
Sex
Female 27.3 34.3 34.9 21.9 23.0 18.7 19.1 16.1
Male 27.6 35.4 34.7 21.8 22.9 21.3 19.8 19.9
Ethnicity
European American, non-Hispanic 30.9 38.3 38.6 24.9 25.9 23.2 22.5 20.3
Female 31.7 39.8 39.1 26.6 27.0 22.5 22.8 18.9
Male 30.2 37.0 38.2 23.3 24.9 23.8 22.3 21.5
African American, non-Hispanic 12.6 19.2 19.7 15.1 12.9 11.6 9.5 10.5
Female 11.3 12.2 17.7 10.8 11.9 8.4 8.4 7.4
Male 14.1 27.8 21.8 19.3 14.0 14.9 10.7 13.7
Hispanic 25.3 34.0 32.7 18.4 22.0 16.7 18.0 17.5
Female 22.9 32.9 31.5 17.7 19.2 14.6 16.7 15.2
Male 27.9 34.9 34.0 19.1 24.8 18.7 19.4 19.5
Grade
9th 23.2 31.2 27.6 17.4 19.7 14.3 13.5 13.0
10th 25.2 33.1 34.7 21.8 21.4 19.6 18.3 15.6
11th 31.6 35.9 36.0 23.6 24.3 21.6 22.3 19.3
12th 30.1 38.2 42.8 26.2 27.6 26.5 25.2 25.1
Source: MMWR, 2012.

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