Adolescents Face Challenges Quitting Smoking

Only a small percentage of high-school students who want to stop smoking are successful in achieving abstinence, Reuters reported May 5.

Data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that of high-school students surveyed in 2007 who said they tried to stop smoking cigarettes, only 12.2 percent were able to quit, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in the May 1, 2009 issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Smoking rates did not vary by gender or race, but more 9th grade students (22.9 percent) were able to stop smoking than students in later grades. Researchers said 9th-graders may have been more successful in quitting because they were less dependent, smoked fewer cigarettes each day, or smoked for shorter periods.