Incidence of Initiation of Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. Teens

   More than 6,000 persons under the age of 18 years try their first cigarette each day.  More than 3,000 persons under the age of 18 years become daily smokers every day.

   In 1996, more than 1.851 million Americans became daily smokers, of which an estimated 1.226 million (66.2 percent) were under the age of 18 years.

   The number of adolescents who become daily smokers before the age of 18 years increased by 73 percent from 1988 (708,000) to 1996 (1.226 million)---rising from nearly 2,000 to more than 3,000 persons under the age of 18 years who become daily smokers each day. If the rate of smoking initiation among young people had held constant since 1988, then 1.492 million fewer persons under the age of 18 years would have become daily smokers by 1996.

   In the 1960s and 1970s, the rate of first-daily smoking was highest for persons aged 18-25 years. Since the late 1980s, however, the rate of first-daily smoking was similar for adolescents aged 12-17 years and young adults aged 18-25 years.

   Among persons aged 12-17 years, the incidence of first use of cigarettes per 1,000 potential news users has been rising continuously during the 1990s and has been steadily higher than for persons aged 18-25 years since the early 1970s.

   At least 4.5 million adolescents (aged 12-17 years) in the United States smoke cigarettes.

   Young people vastly underestimate the addictiveness of nicotine. Of daily smokers who think that they will not smoke in five years, nearly 75 percent are still smoking five to six years later.

   Seventy percent of adolescent smokers wish they had never started smoking in the first place.

   To prevent initiation of tobacco use and to help adolescents quit requires a comprehensive approach. This approach should include increasing tobacco prices; reducing the access and appeal of tobacco products; conducting mass media campaigns and school-based tobacco use prevention programs; increasing provision of smoke-free indoor air; regulating tobacco products; decreasing tobacco use by parents, teachers, and influential role models; developing and disseminating effective youth cessation programs; and increasing support and involvement from parents and schools.