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Percent of adolescents in grades 9-12 who smoke cigarettes

Current Value

4%

2019

Definition

Line Bar Comparison

Story Behind the Curve

This indicator measures the percentage of youth (students in grades 9- 12) who smoked tobacco in the past 30 days. Over the last 8-10 years, smoking rates have been falling among youth. This decline is due to several factors including decreased accessed to tobacco,implementation of prevention strategies, environments that support tobacco-free norms, social media campaigns, and school-based prevention efforts such as Our Voices Exposed (OVX) and Vermont Kids Against Tobacco (VKAT).

Reducing the perception of smoking as a social norm is key to reduce smoking rates, particularly among youth. The Champlain Valley Fair prohibited smoking in all buildings and outdoor areas with smoking permitted only in designated smoking tents. This has become the norm at the event. The City of Burlington recently declared the Church Street marketplace a smoke-free zone. Changes such as these aid by de-emphasizing smoking and tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, in outdoor public spaces and importantly, in schools and their grounds. The UVM campus has been smoke-free since August of 2015. Nationally there are close to several thousand smoke- and tobacco-free college campuses, which are helping to reduce tobacco initiation, use and secondhand smoke exposure in addition to reducing college costs associated with its use (sanitation and maintenance).

Click the Toggle Comparison button to see how smoking rates of adolescents vary by maternal level of education. 2015 is the last year that data is available by maternal education.

Why Is This Important?

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Though smoking rates are falling, adults with incomes below 250% of the federal poverty level are four times more likely to be current smokers. Healthy community design can improve everyone’s ability to make healthy choices by reducing exposure to tobacco advertising and increasing smoke-free indoor and outdoor policies.

Partners

Vermont Department of Health

Local Community Coalitions

Local Schools

City of Burlington

Local businesses

Citation

Vermont Department of Health, Burlington District Office, Tobacco Control Program

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