Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States;
nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood (
1
,
2
). Among youths, use of tobacco products in any form is unsafe (
1
,
3
). CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011–2016
National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine recent patterns of current (past
30-day) use of seven tobacco product types among U.S. middle (grades 6–8) and high
(grades 9–12) school students. In 2016, 20.2% of surveyed high school students and
7.2% of middle school students reported current tobacco product use. In 2016, among
current tobacco product users, 47.2% of high school students and 42.4% of middle school
students used ≥2 tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were the
most commonly used tobacco product among high (11.3%) and middle (4.3%) school students.
Current use of any tobacco product did not change significantly during 2011–2016 among
high or middle school students, although combustible tobacco product use declined.
However, during 2015–2016, among high school students, decreases were observed in
current use of any tobacco product, any combustible product, ≥2 tobacco products,
e-cigarettes, and hookahs. Among middle school students, current use of e-cigarettes
decreased. Comprehensive and sustained strategies can help prevent and reduce the
use of all forms of tobacco products among U.S. youths (
1
–
3
).
NYTS is a cross-sectional, voluntary, school-based, self-administered, pencil-and-paper
questionnaire administered to U.S. middle and high school students. A three-stage
cluster sampling procedure was used to generate a nationally representative sample
of U.S. students attending public and private schools in grades 6–12. This report
uses data from six NYTS waves (2011–2016). Sample sizes and response rates for 2011,
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 were 18,866 (72.7%), 24,658 (73.6%), 18,406 (67.8%),
22,007 (73.3%), 17,711 (63.4%), and 20,675 (71.6%), respectively.
Participants were asked about current use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco,*
e-cigarettes,
†
hookahs (water pipes used to smoke tobacco),
§
pipe tobacco,
¶
and bidis (small imported cigarettes wrapped in a leaf). Current use for each product
was defined as use on ≥1 day during the past 30 days. “Any tobacco product use” was
defined as current use of one or more tobacco products, and “≥2 tobacco product use”
was defined as current use of two or more tobacco products.** “Any combustible tobacco
product use” was defined as current use of cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, pipe tobacco,
and/or bidis.
Data were weighted to account for the complex survey design and adjusted for nonresponse;
national prevalence estimates, 95% confidence intervals, and population estimates
were computed and rounded down to the nearest 10,000. Current use estimates for 2016
are presented for any tobacco product, any combustible tobacco product, ≥2 tobacco
products, and each tobacco product individually, by selected demographics for each
school type (high school and middle school). Results were assessed for the presence
of linear and quadratic trends during 2011–2016, adjusting for race/ethnicity, sex,
and school grade.
††
T-tests were performed to examine differences between findings in 2015 and 2016. For
all analyses, p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
In 2016, 20.2% of high school students (estimated 3.05 million) reported current use
of any tobacco product, including 9.6% (1.44 million; 47.2% of current tobacco product
users) who reported current use of ≥2 tobacco products. Among high school students,
e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product (11.3% of current users),
followed by cigarettes (8.0%), cigars (7.7%), smokeless tobacco (5.8%), hookahs (4.8%),
pipe tobacco (1.4%), and bidis (0.5%) (Table). Males reported higher use of any tobacco
product, ≥2 tobacco products, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco than did
females. E-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among non-Hispanic
white (13.7%) and Hispanic (10.3%) high school students, whereas cigars were the most
commonly used tobacco product among non-Hispanic black high school students (9.5%).
TABLE
Estimated percentage of middle and high school students who used tobacco products
in the past 30 days, by product,* school level, sex, and race/ethnicity — National
Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2016
Tobacco product
Sex % (95% CI)
Race/Ethnicity % (95% CI)
Total
Female
Male
White, non-Hispanic
Black, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
Other, non-Hispanic
% (95% CI)
Estimated no. of users†
High school students
Electronic cigarettes
9.5 (7.8–11.5)
13.1 (11.4–14.9)
13.7 (11.9–15.7)
6.2 (4.8–7.9)
10.3 (8.2–12.8)
5.4 (3.6–8.0)
11.3 (9.9–12.9)
1,680,000
Cigarettes
6.9 (5.4–8.8)
9.1 (7.6–11.0)
9.9 (8.2–11.8)
3.9 (2.9–5.3)
6.4 (4.9–8.4)
4.8 (3.1–7.6)
8.0 (6.7–9.6)
1,180,000
Cigars
5.6 (4.3–7.2)
9.0 (8.6–11.2)
7.9 (6.5–9.6)
9.5 (7.8–11.5)
7.2 (5.7–9.1)
3.7 (2.4–5.7)
7.7 (6.6–8.9)
1,130,000
Smokeless tobacco
3.3 (2.4–4.4)
8.3 (6.8–10.1)
7.4 (6.0–9.1)
2.1 (1.5–3.1)
4.4 (3.4–5.7)
3.8 (2.1–6.8)
5.8 (4.8–7.0)
860,000
Hookah
5.1 (4.1–6.3)
4.5 (3.8–5.4)
4.5 (3.7–5.4)
4.1 (3.2–5.3)
6.4 (4.8–8.3)
3.4 (2.1–5.5)
4.8 (4.1–5.7)
700,000
Pipe tobacco
0.9 (0.7–1.2)
1.8 (1.5–2.4)
1.4 (1.1–1.8)
1.2 (0.7–2.0)
1.2 (0.9–1.8)
—§
1.4 (1.1–1.7)
190,000
Bidis
0.3 (0.2–0.6)
0.7 (0.5–0.9)
0.4 (0.2–0.7)
—
0.6 (0.4–1.1)
—
0.5 (0.3–0.7)
70,000
Any tobacco product¶
17.0 (14.9–19.3)
23.5 (21.3–25.8)
23.0 (20.7–25.6)
16.4 (14.1–18.9)
18.3 (15.8–21.0)
11.3 (8.7–14.5)
20.2 (18.4–22.3)
3,050,000
≥2 tobacco products**
7.8 (6.3–9.7)
11.4 (9.9–13.0)
11.3 (9.6–13.2)
6.1 (5.2–7.3)
8.9 (7.1–11.2)
5.0 (3.2–7.7)
9.6 (8.3–11.1)
1,440,000
Any combustible tobacco product††
12.4 (10.7–14.4)
15.3 (13.7–17.1)
15.1 (13.1–17.3)
12.9 (11.0–15.1)
12.9 (11.1–14.9)
8.1 (5.9–11.1)
13.8 (12.3–15.5)
2,080,000
Middle school students
Electronic cigarettes
3.4 (2.7–4.3)
5.1 (4.2–6.1)
3.7 (3.0–4.7)
4.0 (2.6–6.0)
5.6 (4.3–7.4)
—
4.3 (3.7–4.9)
500,000
Cigarettes
1.8 (1.3–2.5)
2.5 (1.8–3.4)
1.9 (1.4–2.6)
—
2.5 (1.8–3.5)
—
2.2 (1.7–2.7)
250,000
Cigars
1.7 (1.1–2.4)
2.7 (1.9–3.9)
1.4 (0.9–2.2)
4.5 (2.8–7.1)
2.8 (1.9–4.2)
—
2.2 (1.7–2.9)
260,000
Smokeless tobacco
1.5 (0.9–2.4)
3.0 (2.2–4.0)
2.1 (1.5–3.0)
—
3.0 (2.1–3.4)
—
2.2 (1.6–3.1)
260,000
Hookah
1.9 (1.5–2.5)
2.1 (1.5–2.9)
0.9 (0.6–1.4)
2.8 (1.8–4.4)
3.7 (3.0–4.7)
—
2.0 (1.6–2.5)
230,000
Pipe tobacco
0.6 (0.3–1.0)
0.8 (0.5–1.3)
—
—
1.7 (1.1–2.6)
—
0.7 (0.5–1.0)
70,000
Bidis
—
0.4 (0.2–0.7)
—
—
0.6 (0.4–1.1)
—
0.3 (0.2–0.5)
30,000
Any tobacco product¶
5.9 (4.9–7.3)
8.3 (6.8–9.9)
5.9 (4.7–7.3)
7.5 (5.5–10.1)
9.5 (7.5–11.8)
—
7.2 (6.1–8.4)
850,000
≥2 tobacco products**
2.5 (1.8–3.4)
3.6 (2.7–4.7)
2.3 (1.7–3.0)
3.0 (2.0–4.3)
4.5 (3.3–6.1)
—
3.1 (2.5–3.8)
360,000
Any combustible tobacco product††
3.9 (3.0–5.0)
4.6 (3.4–6.2)
2.9 (2.2–3.7)
5.8 (4.0–8.3)
6.1 (4.7–7.9)
—
4.3 (3.5–5.2)
510,000
Abbreviation: CI = confidence interval.
* Past 30-day use of electronic cigarettes was determined by asking, “During the past
30 days, on how many days did you use electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes?” Past
30-day use of cigarettes was determined by asking, “During the past 30 days, on how
many days did you smoke cigarettes?” Past 30-day use of cigars was determined by asking,
“During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke cigars, cigarillos, or little
cigars?” Past 30-day use of hookahs was determined by asking, “During the past 30
days, on how many days did you smoke tobacco in a hookah or waterpipe?” Smokeless
tobacco was defined as use of chewing tobacco, snuff, dip, snus, and/or dissolvable
tobacco products. Past 30-day use of smokeless tobacco was determined by asking the
following question regarding chewing tobacco, snuff, and dip: “During the past 30
days, on how many days did you use chewing tobacco, snuff, or dip?,” and the following
question for use of snus and dissolvable tobacco products: “In the past 30 days, which
of the following products did you use on at least one day: snus, dissolvable tobacco
products?.” Responses from these questions were combined to derive overall smokeless
tobacco use. Past 30-day use of pipe tobacco and bidis were determined by asking,
“In the past 30 days, which of the following products have you used on at least one
day: pipe filled with tobacco (not waterpipe), bidis (small brown cigarettes wrapped
in a leaf)?”
† Estimated total number of users is rounded down to the nearest 10,000 persons.
§ Data are statistically unreliable because samples size was <50 or relative standard
error was >0.3.
¶ Any tobacco product use is defined as use of any tobacco product (electronic cigarettes,
cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, hookahs, pipe tobacco, and/or bidis) on at
least one day in the past 30 days.
** ≥2 tobacco product use is defined as use of two or more tobacco products (electronic
cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, hookahs, pipe tobacco, and/or bidis)
on at least one day in the past 30 days.
†† Any combustible tobacco use defined as use of cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, pipe
tobacco, and/or bidis on at least one day in the past 30 days.
Among middle school students, 7.2% (0.85 million) reported current use of any tobacco
product, and 3.1% (0.36 million; 42.4% of current tobacco users) reported current
use of ≥2 tobacco products (Table). Among middle school students, e-cigarettes were
the most commonly used tobacco product (4.3%), followed by cigarettes (2.2%), cigars
(2.2%), smokeless tobacco (2.2%), hookahs (2.0%), pipe tobacco (0.7%), and bidis (0.3%).
Among males, current use of any tobacco product was 8.3%, and among females, was 5.9%.
Hispanics reported higher use of any tobacco product, use of ≥2 tobacco products,
and use of hookahs than did non-Hispanic whites (Table).
Among all high school students, current use of any tobacco product did not change
significantly from 2011 (24.2%) to 2016 (20.2%); however, a nonlinear decrease occurred
in current use of any combustible tobacco product (21.8% to 13.8%), and ≥2 tobacco
products (12.0% to 9.6%) during this time (Figure 1). By product type, nonlinear increases
occurred for current use of e-cigarettes (1.5% to 11.3%) and hookahs (4.1% to 4.8%)
(p for trend <0.05); however, a linear decrease occurred in current use of cigarettes
(15.8% to 8.0%), cigars (11.6% to 7.7%), and smokeless tobacco (7.9% to 5.8%), and
a nonlinear decrease occurred in current use of pipe tobacco (4.0% to 1.4%) and bidis
(2.0% to 0.5%) (p<0.05 for trend) (Figure 1). During 2011–2016, among middle school
students, a linear decrease occurred in current use of any combustible tobacco products
(6.4% to 4.3%), cigarettes (4.3% to 2.2%), cigars (3.5% to 2.2%), and pipe tobacco
(2.2% to 0.7%) (p for trend <0.05), whereas no significant linear or quadratic trends
were observed for current use of any tobacco product or ≥2 tobacco products (Figure
2). A nonlinear increase occurred in current use of e-cigarettes (0.6% to 4.3%), and
a linear increase occurred for current use of hookahs (1.0% to 2.0%) (p for trend
<0.05).
FIGURE 1
Estimated percentage of high school students who currently use any tobacco products,*
any combustible tobacco products,
†
≥2 tobacco products,
§
and selected tobacco products — National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2011–2016
¶
,
**
,
††
* Any tobacco product use is defined as past 30-day use of electronic cigarettes,
cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, smokeless tobacco, pipe tobacco and/or bidis.
†
Any combustible tobacco use is defined as use of cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, pipe
tobacco, and/or bidis on at least one day in the past 30 days.
§
≥2 tobacco product use is defined as past 30-day use of two or more of the following
tobacco products: electronic cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, smokeless tobacco,
pipe tobacco, and/or bidis.
¶ From 2015 to 2016, a significant decrease in use of any tobacco product, any combustible
tobacco product, ≥2 tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, and hookahs was observed
(p<0.05).
** During 2011–2016, use of electronic cigarettes and hookahs exhibited a nonlinear
increase (p<0.05). Use of cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco exhibited a linear
decrease (p<0.05). Any combustible tobacco use, pipe tobacco, and bidis exhibited
a nonlinear decrease (p<0.05). There was a nonlinear change during this time in the
use of ≥2 types of tobacco products (p<0.05). No significant trend in current use
of any tobacco product was observed during 2011–2016.
†† Beginning in 2015, the definition of smokeless tobacco included chewing tobacco/snuff/dip,
snus, and dissolvable tobacco because of limited sample sizes for individual products;
this definition was applied across 2011–2016 for comparability purposes. In previous
reports (National Youth Tobacco Survey 2014 and earlier) smokeless tobacco included
only chewing tobacco/snuff/dip; snus and dissolvable tobacco were reported as separate
products.
The figure above is a bar graph showing the estimated percentage of high school students
who currently use any tobacco products, any combustible tobacco products, ≥2 tobacco
products, and selected tobacco products in the United States during 2011–2016.
FIGURE 2
Estimated percentage of middle school students who currently use any tobacco products,*
any combustible tobacco product,† ≥2 tobacco products,
§
and selected tobacco products — National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2011–2016
¶
,**,
††
* Any tobacco product use is defined as past 30-day use of electronic cigarettes,
cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, smokeless tobacco, pipe tobacco and/or bidis.
†
Any combustible tobacco use is defined as use of cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, pipe
tobacco, and/or bidis on at least one day in the past 30 days.
§
≥2 tobacco product use is defined as past 30-day use of two or more of the following
tobacco products: electronic cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, smokeless tobacco,
pipe tobacco, and/or bidis.
¶ From 2015 to 2016, a significant decrease in use of electronic cigarettes was observed
(p<0.05).
** During 2011–2016, electronic cigarette use exhibited a nonlinear increase (p<0.05).
Hookah use exhibited a linear increase (p<0.05). Use of any combustible tobacco, cigarettes,
cigars, and pipe tobacco exhibited a linear decrease (p<0.05). Bidi use exhibited
a nonlinear decrease (p<0.05). Smokeless tobacco use exhibited a nonlinear change
over this time period (p<0.05). No change in current use of any product or ≥2 types
of products was observed during 2011–2016.
†† Beginning in 2015, the definition of smokeless tobacco included chewing tobacco/snuff/dip,
snus, and dissolvable tobacco because of limited sample sizes for individual products;
this definition was applied across 2011–2016 for comparability purposes. In previous
reports (National Youth Tobacco Survey 2014 and earlier) smokeless tobacco included
only chewing tobacco/snuff/dip; snus and dissolvable tobacco were reported as separate
products.
The figure above is a bar graph showing the estimated percentage of middle school
students who currently use any tobacco products, any combustible tobacco product,
≥2 tobacco products, and selected tobacco products in the United States during 2011–2016.
During 2015–2016, among high school students, decreases occurred in the use of any
tobacco product (25.3% to 20.2%), any combustible tobacco product (17.2% to 13.8%),
≥2 tobacco products (13.0% to 9.6%), e-cigarettes (16.0% to 11.3%), and hookahs (7.2%
to 4.8%) (p<0.05). Among middle school students, e-cigarette use decreased from 5.3%
in 2015 to 4.3% in 2016 (p<0.05). Among middle and high school students, use of other
tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, pipe, and bidis,
did not change significantly during 2015–2016.
Discussion
During 2015–2016, the use of any tobacco product, any combustible tobacco product,
≥2 tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and hookahs declined among high school students,
and e-cigarette use declined among middle school students. This is in contrast to
prior recent years, when declines in the reported use of cigarettes and cigars occurred
alongside increases in the use of other tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and
hookahs, resulting in no change in the use of any tobacco product during 2011–2016.
In 2016, an estimated 3.9 million U.S. middle and high school students currently used
any tobacco product, with 1.8 million reporting current use of ≥2 tobacco products.
Among youths, symptoms of nicotine dependence are increased in multiple tobacco product–users
compared with single product–users (
4
).
Tobacco prevention and control strategies at the national, state, and local levels
likely have contributed to the reduction in use of certain tobacco products, including
e-cigarettes, among youths in recent years (
2
). Efforts to address youths’ use of tobacco products include youth access restrictions,
smoke-free policies that include e-cigarettes, and media campaigns warning about the
risks of youth tobacco product use. For example, since February 2014, FDA’s first
national tobacco public education campaign, The Real Cost, has broadcasted tobacco
education advertising designed for youths aged 12–17 years; the campaign was associated
with an estimated 348,398 U.S. youths who did not initiate cigarette smoking during
February 2014–March 2016 (
5
). Continued implementation of these strategies can help prevent and further reduce
the use of all forms of tobacco product among U.S. youths (
1
–
3
).
The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, NYTS
only recruited students from public and private schools; therefore, the findings might
not be generalizable to youths who are being home-schooled, have dropped out of school,
or are in detention centers. Second, data were self-reported; thus, the findings are
subject to recall and response bias. Finally, changes in the wording and placement
of survey questions about certain products (e.g., e-cigarettes, hookahs, and pipe
tobacco) during 2011–2016 might have had an impact on reported use. Despite these
limitations, overall trends are generally similar to those found in other nationally
representative surveys (
6
,
7
).
Sustained efforts to implement proven tobacco control policies and strategies are
critical to preventing youth use of all tobacco products. Effective August 8, 2016,
FDA finalized its deeming rule, which gave FDA jurisdiction over products made or
derived from tobacco, including e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and hookah tobacco
(
8
). Regulation of the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products
by FDA, coupled with full implementation of comprehensive tobacco control and prevention
strategies at CDC-recommended funding levels (
9
), could reduce youth tobacco product initiation and use (
1
,
2
,
9
). Strategies to reduce youth tobacco product use include increasing the price of
tobacco products, protecting people from secondhand exposure to combustible tobacco
smoke and e-cigarette aerosol, implementing advertising and promotion restrictions
and national public education media campaigns, and raising the minimum age of purchase
for tobacco products to 21 years (
9
,
10
). Continued monitoring of all forms of youth tobacco product use is critical to determine
whether current patterns in use persist over time.
Summary
What is already known about this topic?
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States,
and nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood. Among youths,
use of tobacco products in any form is unsafe.
What is added by this report?
In 2016, one in five high school students and one in 14 middle school students reported
current use of a tobacco product on ≥1 of the past 30 days (3.9 million tobacco users).
Moreover, 47.2% of high school students and 42.4% of middle school students who used
a tobacco product in the past 30 days used ≥2 tobacco products. During 2015–2016,
current use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) decreased among middle school
students, and decreases in current use of any tobacco product, any combustible tobacco
product, ≥2 tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and hookahs occurred among high school
students. However, decreases in cigarette and cigar use during 2011–2016 were offset
by increases in hookah and e-cigarette use, resulting in no significant change in
any tobacco use. In 2016, e-cigarettes remained the most commonly used tobacco product
among high (11.3%) and middle (4.3%) school students.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Sustained efforts to implement proven tobacco control strategies focusing on all types
of tobacco products are critical to reduce tobacco product use among U.S. youths.