A Canadian study of teenaged smokers found that most were trying to quit, but could not. The average boy who starts smoking at 16 years will smoke for another sixteen years; the average girl, for another twenty.

Researchers at the University of Montreal kept track of 319 teenagers for five years. Seventy percent tried to quit, but only 19 percent managed to remain smoke-free for a year. At the beginning of the study, the teens were 12 to 13 years old, and only occasional smokers. By the end of the study, the majority were smoking on a daily basis.

This study appeared in the American Journal of Public Health.

Learn more: Help for Teens Quitting the Smoking Habit

Labels: smokers, smoking, teenagers

From 1997 through 2003, the number of teenage smokers in the United States dropped from 36.4 percent to 21.9 percent. But recent data shows that the percentage has remained largely unchanged over the past five years, prompting some to worry that anti-smoking campaigns are beginning to fail.

"[Terry] Pechacek [of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] blamed the trend in part on cuts on anti-smoking campaigns by states that had been funded by a nationwide 1998 settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the tobacco industry....At the same time, cigarette companies have continued to increase their spending on promotional activities...."

This data comes from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is conducted every two years. The YRBS questions students in grades nine through 12 about various risky behaviors including the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Labels: prevention, smoking, teenagers