BGSU study shows little decline since 1984
Jump to full article: Toledo (OH) Blade, 2009-10-19
Author: JENNIFER FEEHAN BLADE STAFF WRITER
Intro: Some 45 years after the surgeon general issued the landmark Report on Smoking and Health, which documented the health hazards from smoking, young adults continue to smoke at nearly the same rate as they did in 1984, a new report shows.
An analysis published this month by BGSU's Center for Family and Demographic Research showed that 30 percent of young adults ages 18 to 29 in Ohio smoked in 1984. By 2008, that proportion had dropped only slightly, to 28 percent.
Conversely, 30 percent of adults 30 and older were smokers in 1984, but that rate dropped to 19 percent by 2008.
"Somebody's getting the message," remarked Heidi Lyons, an applied demographer with the center at BGSU.
She said she was floored to see the dramatic drop in smoking by older adults, but the almost level rate by younger adults.
"You'd like young adults to not even start smoking, since they've grown up with the message," she said.
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