The fewest variety of U.S. teenagers and tweens in 25 years are presently utilizing tobacco merchandise.
In line with the 2024 Nationwide Youth Tobacco Survey, solely 8 % of center and highschool college students — or 2.25 million — reported utilizing any tobacco merchandise prior to now 30 days. As lately as 2019, 23 %, or simply over 6 million, had reported present tobacco use, pushed nearly fully by e-cigarette use, at 20 %.
E-cigarettes are nonetheless the preferred alternative, utilized by 6 % of center and highschool college students in 2024, researchers report October 17 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Nicotine pouches — a product that releases nicotine when positioned between the cheek and gum — got here in second for the primary time at almost 2 %, adopted by cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco. The Nationwide Youth Tobacco Survey started measuring use amongst college students in 1999.
Extra highschool college students, at 10 %, reported use of any tobacco product prior to now 30 days than center faculty college students, at 5.4 %. Slightly below 8 % of highschool college students reported present use of e-cigarettes in 2024, falling from 10 % in 2023. That lower of 350,000 highschool college students was a giant purpose for the decline in present use of any product amongst all college students surveyed.
Disparities in tobacco use nonetheless exist amongst tweens and teenagers from completely different racial and ethnic teams. Previous analysis has discovered that the tobacco business has lengthy focused sure teams through promoting and advertising, together with selling menthol cigarettes to Black communities and utilizing tribal icons to focus on American Indian and Alaskan Native folks.
Tobacco use most frequently begins in adolescence, a time when publicity to nicotine, the addictive substance in tobacco, may be particularly dangerous to teenagers’ creating mind (SN: 6/30/15). Nicotine impacts the power to study, keep in mind and concentrate. Tobacco management packages on the federal, state and native ranges have contributed to the drop in use, the researchers write.
