The NYC Special 2010 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Tobacco-Related Findings

Audience: Researchers, educators, and policymakers working with high school students on tobacco use.

Key Points: The New York City (NYC) Health Department and Department of Education conducted the NYC Communities Putting Prevention to Work Youth Risk Behavior Survey with 30 schools (n=1,800) in fall 2010 as a baseline to characterize students’ tobacco-related behavior, perception, and exposure. A follow up survey is planned for 2012.

Youth smoking prevalence was 7.2% in 2010. Boys were more likely than girls to be current smokers (8.8% vs. 5.4%, P=0.028) and were twice as likely to try menthol cigarettes (16.0% vs. 8.2%, p=0.001). White youth (26.1%) reported trying menthol cigarettes more than Hispanics (14.2%), Asians (7.4%), and blacks (5.8%) (all p<0.009). Whites (25.0%) and Hispanics (23.6%) were more likely than blacks (16.8%) or Asians (11.7%) to report past-month flavored tobacco use. Almost two-thirds of teens agreed there should be smoking bans in NYC parks (64.9%). Findings on social norms showed that youth agreed that smoking is unattractive (72.6%), while half believed that smokers can be good role models (53.7%). Asian youth (43.8%) were less likely than whites (64.1%), blacks (54.7%), and Hispanics (54.0%) to agree that smokers can be good role models (all p<0.006). In the retail environment, the majority of youth were exposed to both anti-tobacco messaging (65.8%) and tobacco product advertising (60%) in the past 30 days. 

Educational Experience: Participants will be able to describe current youth tobacco use, behaviors, and attitudes in NYC. 

Benefits: Results may be utilized to inform programmatic interventions and policy initiatives targeted towards youth.