Excerpt

Tobacco use is a global epidemic among young people. As with adults, it poses a serious health threat to youth and young adults in the United States and has significant implications for this nation’s public and economic health in the future. The impact of cigarette smoking and other tobacco use on chronic disease, which accounts for 75% of American spending on health care, is well-documented and undeniable. Although progress has been made since the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health in 1964, nearly one in four high school seniors is a current smoker. Most young smokers become adult smokers. One-half of adult smokers die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases. Despite thousands of programs to reduce youth smoking and hundreds of thousands of media stories on the dangers of tobacco use, generation after generation continues to use these deadly products, and family after family continues to suffer the devastating consequences. Yet a robust science base exists on social, biological, and environmental factors that influence young people to use tobacco, the physiology of progression from experimentation to addiction, other health effects of tobacco use, the epidemiology of youth and young adult tobacco use, and evidence-based interventions that have proven effective at reducing both initiation and prevalence of tobacco use among young people. Those are precisely the issues examined in this report, which aims to support the application of this robust science base.

Contents

• Message from Kathleen Sebelius
• Message from Howard Koh
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction, Summary, and Conclusions
  • Introduction
  • Focus of the Report
  • Organization of the Report
  • Preparation of the Report
  • Evaluation of the Evidence
  • Major Conclusions
  • Chapter Conclusions
  • References
• 2. The Health Consequences of Tobacco Use Among Young People
  • Introduction
  • Smoking During Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A Critical Period for Health
  • Nicotine Addiction
  • Smoking and Body Weight
  • Pulmonary Function and Respiratory Symptoms and Diseases
  • Cardiovascular Effects of Tobacco Use
  • Evidence Summary
  • Conclusions
  • References
• 3. The Epidemiology of Tobacco Use Among Young People in the United States and Worldwide
  • Introduction
  • Key Epidemiologic Findings
  • Other Epidemiologic Findings
  • Evidence Summary
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Appendices
• 4. Social, Environmental, Cognitive, and Genetic Influences on the Use of Tobacco Among Youth
  • Introduction
  • Large Social and Physical Environments
  • Small Social Groups
  • Cognitive and Affective Processes
  • Genetic Factors and Neurobiological and Neurodevelopmental Processes
  • Evidence Summary
  • Conclusions
  • References
• 5. The Tobacco Industry’s Influences on the Use of Tobacco Among Youth
  • Introduction
  • Marketing Expenditures of the Tobacco Companies
  • Advertising and Other Promotional Activities Used by the Tobacco Companies to Promote Tobacco Use Among Young People
  • The Tobacco Industry’s Pricing Practices and Use of Tobacco Among Young People
  • Influence of the Tobacco Industry on Tobacco Use Among Youth: The Packaging of Tobacco Products
  • The Influence of the Design of Tobacco Products on the Use of Tobacco by Young People
  • Tobacco Product Marketing at the Point of Sale
  • Digital Tobacco Marketing
  • Other Tobacco Company Activities and Tobacco Use Among Youth
  • Images of Smoking in the Entertainment Media and the Development of Identity
  • Images of Smoking in Movies and Adolescent Smoking
  • Evidence Summary
  • Conclusions
  • References
• 6. Efforts to Prevent and Reduce Tobacco Use Among Young People
  • Introduction
  • Evidence for Prevention and Reduction of Youth Tobacco Use
  • Evidence Summary
  • Conclusions
  • References
• 7. A Vision for Ending the Tobacco Epidemic
  • History of Tobacco Control Among Young People in the United States
  • Tobacco Control Among Youth and Young Adults: The Recent Disappointing Trends
  • Tobacco Control Among Youth and Young Adults: How to Make Progress
  • Final Call to Action
  • References
• List of Abbreviations

Suggested citation:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2012.