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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

David E. Nelson, MD, PhD, Paul Mowery, Linda Pederson, MA, PhD, and Ann Malarcher. Office of Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NW MS-K50, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770 488-2401, den2@cdc.gov

The initiation of cigarette smoking begins primarily in adolescence and young adulthood, making these the critical periods for smoking prevention. Building upon prior national trend studies, we analyzed data from Monitoring the Future (MTF) surveys of adolescents, and from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for adults aged 18-24 years. We used statistical smoothing techniques and piecewise regression analyses to comprehensively update overall and detailed subgroup analyses of national trends in adolescent and young adult smoking from the mid-1970s through 2004. Overall, our findings suggest that the recent rapid declines in adolescent smoking prevalence may be leveling off. Other findings of note are that there were major differences in smoking trends for young adults and high school seniors for African Americans compared with Whites or Hispanics throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and that trends in smoking among young adults sharply differed by education level (e.g., increases in prevalence from the late 1980s through the late 1990s occurred primarily among those with higher levels of education). Potential explanations for these trends and implications for tobacco control and prevention will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize supopulation groups with trend patterns in smoking that differed from the US as a whole.
• Articulate at least two explanations for the observed trends in smoking.

Keywords: Adolescents, Smoking

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered