Teens and tobacco in Minnesota. New findings from the Minnesota youth tobacco survey.
The Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey (MYTS) was administered to 12,376 public school students in grades 6 through 12 to obtain baseline data at the start of the state's latest efforts to reduce tobacco use among youth. The sample is representative of public school students in the state. More than one-third of high school students (38.7%) and 12.6% of middle school students are current tobacco users, defined as use of tobacco on one or more days in the previous 30 days. Current use of cigarettes is 32.4% in high school and 9.1% in middle school. More than 90% of students, including most smokers, agree that tobacco use is addictive and harmful. More than three-fourths (78.4%) of current smokers report that two or more of their four closest friends are smokers. Students who live with a smoker are more likely to become current smokers than students who do not live with anyone who smokes (42.5% to 25.1% in high school). Most current smokers (61.0%) tried to quit smoking at least once in the past 12 months. Eighty-eight percent (88.4%) of current smokers in high school smoke one of the top three advertised brands: Marlboro, Camel, or Newport. Results of the MYTS illustrate some of the challenges facing the state's tobacco reduction efforts and some of the factors that must be considered as Minnesota tries to design and implement effective programs.
Rode
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Center for Health Statistics, Minnesota Department of Health, USA. peter.rode@health.state.mn.us
Oswald
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D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data