Schools Can Help Teach our Youth to Live Tobacco Free

Because four out of every five persons who use tobacco begin before they become adults, tobacco-prevention activities should focus on school-age children and adolescents.

Tobacco use, including cigarette smoking, cigar smoking, and smokeless tobacco use, remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Each year cigarette smoking accounts for approximately 1 of every 5 deaths, or about 438,000 people. Despite the dangers, every day, approximately 4,000 American youth aged 12-17 try their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,140 young people become daily cigarette smokers. In 2007, 20% of high schools students reported current cigarette use and 14% reported current cigar use. In addition, 8% of high school students and 18% of white male high school students reported current smokeless tobacco use.

Because four out of every five persons who use tobacco begin before they become adults, tobacco-prevention activities should focus on school-age children and adolescents. Evidence suggests that school health programs can prevent tobacco use among youth. If your child's school doesn't have a prevention program, talk to administrators about starting one. Not sure how? Here are a few ideas.

• Create Tobacco-Free Zones
  Research shows that tobacco-use prevention programs are most likely to be effective when schools develop and enforce a school policy on tobacco use that establishes environments that are tobacco-free at all times, including off-site school events.
• Provide Tobacco Prevention Curriculum
  Provide a sequential tobacco-use prevention curriculum during grades K–12, with intensive delivery in junior high or middle school, and with reinforcement in high school.
• Include Everyone
  Provide program-specific training for teachers. Involve parents, families, and the community in support of school based programs to prevent tobacco use.
• Lend a Helping Hand
  Provide support for tobacco-use cessation efforts among students and school staff who use tobacco.

For a comprehensive guide on developing programs, see Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction.

Protecting youth health is part of CDC's overall public health mission. For more information on adolescent health, smoking, or chronic disease prevention, read the April 2009 issue of Preventing Chronic Disease. Articles in this issue include:

• Area-Level Variation in Adolescent Smoking
• Parental Perspectives on Antismoking Discussions with Adolescents in Rural African American Households, May 2004–January 2005
• Risk and Protective Factors for Tobacco Use among 8th- and 10th-Grade African American Students in Virginia

More Information

• CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health
• CDC Office on Smoking and Health
• Preventing Chronic Disease