Proportion of High School Students Who Smoked Cigarettes in the Past 30 Days (LGHC Indicator)

This is a source dataset for a Let's Get Healthy California indicator at https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/. The California Tobacco Control Program coordinates statewide tobacco control efforts and funds the California Student Tobacco Survey (CSTS). The data table shows the current smoking prevalence from 2001-2002 to 2015-2016 for California high school youth by selected demographics. Current cigarette smoking was defined as having smoked on one or more days during the past 30 days prior to the survey. In statistics, a confidence interval is a measure of the reliability of an estimate. It is a type of interval estimate of a population parameter. The CSTS is a large-scale biennial survey, in-school student survey administered to middle (grades 8) and high school (grades 10 and 12) students. Topics of the survey include awareness of and use of different tobacco products; history and patterns of tobacco use; tobacco purchasing patterns; knowledge and participation in school tobacco prevention or cessation programs; perceptions of tobacco use (i.e. social norms); awareness of advertising; and susceptibility to future tobacco use.

Three out of four teenage smokers end up smoking into adulthood.[1] Youth are more sensitive to nicotine and can become dependent sooner than adults.[1] Nicotine addiction causes about three out of four teenage smokers to end up smoking into adulthood, even if they intend to quit after a few years.[1] The indicator for adolescent tobacco use measures the proportion of adolescents who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days prior to the survey. Smoking impacts many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and asthma.[1] We have met the target for this indicator. However, this dramatic drop might be driven by the popularity of emerging tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes, among youth in recent years. In 2015-2016, 8.6% of high school students in California have used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days and 13.5% of high school students have used any type of tobacco products (cigarettes, little cigars or cigarillos, kreteks, big cigars, hookah, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes) in the past 30 days. Learn more at [Let's Get Healthy California](https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/goals/healthy-beginnings/reducing-adolescent-tobacco-use/) [1] California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program. State Health Officer’s Report on Tobacco Use and Promotion in California: Sacramento, CA, 2012: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Documents/EMBARGOED%20State%20Health%20Officers%20Report%20on%20Tobacco.pdf