Adolescent rates of cigarette smoking have increased in the 1990s among white, African American, and Hispanic high school students after years of declining rates during the 1970s and 1980s. Among African Americans in 1997 only 17 percent of high school girls, compared with 28 percent of boys, currently smoked cigarettes. Rates of smoking cigarettes in white and Hispanic high school girls and boys are not substantially different. Overall, American Indians and Alaska Natives, blue-collar workers, and military personnel have the highest rates of smoking in adults. Rates of smoking in Asian and Pacific Islander men are more than four times higher than for women of the same race.
Men have only somewhat higher rates of smoking than women within the total U.S. population.
The percentage of people aged 25 years and older with less than 12 years of education who are current smokers is nearly three times that for persons with 16 or more years of education. There is no safe tobacco alternative to cigarettes. Cigar smoking causes cancer of the mouth, throat, and lungs and can increase the risk of heart disease and chronic lung problems. For Adolescents Youth Risk Behavior Surveys contains information typical for adolescents. Such interventions emphasize prevention of initiation, reduction of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and systems changes to promote smoking cessation.