Nicotine - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

The American Heart Association Web site posts data on patterns of tobacco use among adults age eighteen and older in the United States. As of 2002, 25.2 percent of white American men and 20.7 percent of white American women used tobacco. In 2002, 27 percent of African American men and 18.5 percent of African American women used tobacco. Hispanic/Latino men reported 23.2 percent usage, and Hispanic/Latino women, 12.5 percent. Asian Americans were the least likely to use tobacco, with 21.3 percent of men and 6.9 of women reporting usage. The population most likely to use

Some chronic tobacco users seek to end their addiction to the drug by using nicotine patches. Such therapies can be habit-forming, too. Patch users must take care not to exceed the recommended dose on the label. Photograph by Robert J. Huffman/
Some chronic tobacco users seek to end their addiction to the drug by using nicotine patches. Such therapies can be habit-forming, too. Patch users must take care not to exceed the recommended dose on the label. Photograph by Robert J. Huffman/Field Mark Publications.

tobacco, according to the American Heart Association data, is Native Americans/Alaskan Natives, who reported that 32 percent of adult men and 36.9 percent of adult women were tobacco users. The numbers add up to 47.5 million adult American users.

What the Surveys Say

The 2003 NSDUH found 70.8 million tobacco users in the United States, factoring in anyone over the age of twelve who had ever tried tobacco. Of these, the NSDUH characterized 35.7 million as nicotine addicts. This number includes Americans age twelve and older. The NSDUH data on teenage nicotine use does not break down by race or ethnic origin, reporting simply that 12.5 percent of girls age twelve to eighteen use tobacco, along with 11.9 percent of boys. These rates are down from previous years.

Incidents of tobacco use seem to peak between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, when, according to the NSDUH, 40.8 percent of people report at least one experience with the product. The data clearly show that most Americans begin using tobacco products between the ages of twelve and twenty-five. It is this "target audience" that the anti-smoking campaigns seek to educate about the health dangers of tobacco. According to various anti-smoking organizations, it is this same group that smoking advertisements target.

Although the number of young smokers remains high, data from the 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study show a slow but steady drop in the percentage of eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-grade students who smoke cigarettes. Back in 1996, 21 percent of eighth graders, 30.4 percent of tenth graders, and 34 percent of twelfth graders had smoked during the month prior to the survey. Eight years later, in 2004, the figures had fallen to 9.2 percent of eighth graders, 16 percent of tenth graders, and 25 percent of twelfth graders reporting past-month cigarette usage. Teens who said they smoked more than a half a pack of cigarettes daily fell significantly over the eight-year span as well. In addition, according to MTF survey authors, "the perception of harm from smoking one or more packs per day increased significantly among eighth- and tenth-graders from 2003 to 2004."

Ties to Social Problems?

The various surveys show another fact as well. According to the American Heart Association, people with a high school education or less are three times more likely to be smokers than those with a college education. The prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among people living below the poverty level, with one in three reporting tobacco use.

Charley, the Addicted Chimp

According to First Coast News in April of 2005, Charley, a resident of the Bloemfontein Zoo in South Africa, picked up a smoking habit after finding a pack of cigarettes thrown into his cage. Helpful zoo visitors lit his cigarettes for him. Charley learned to hide his cigarettes from the zookeepers, who would take them from him. The zoo staff feared he had become addicted. They posted signs asking visitors not to give Charley any more tobacco for fear that it was damaging his health.

A study of more than 4,000 students in Oregon and California linked early smoking with problem behaviors. Kids who start smoking around age twelve are considered "early smokers." In an article published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Phyllis L. Ellickson and her coauthors reached the following conclusion: "Compared with nonsmokers, early smokers were at least three times more likely by grade twelve to regularly use tobacco and marijuana, use hard drugs, [and] drop out of school." In addition, these adolescents were "at higher risk for low academic achievement and behavioral problems at school."