SMOKING INITIATION RATES IN ADULTS AND MINERS - UNITED-STATES, 1944-1988

To the authors' knowledge, calendar year trends in cigarette smoking i nitiation rates have not been examined on a population basis. National Health Interview Survey data (1970, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1987, and 1988) on age of starting to smoke fairly regularly were used to compute smo king initiation rates for males and females aged 10-24 years from 1944 through the mid-1980s. information from 102,626 respondents was inclu ded. The authors examined trends in these rates and looked for associa tions with milestones in the antismoking public health campaign. Smoki ng initiation in 21- to 24-year-old (adult) males declined sharply beg inning around 1950 when evidence regarding the health consequences of smoking was first made public. The decline in adult females began in t he mid-1960s when the Surgeon General's report was released, intensify ing the public health campaign. The initiation rate for adult males an d females dropped below 1% by the end of the study period. Initiation rates in 15- to 20-year-old males also began to decrease in the mid-19 60s, but rates for 10- to 14-year-old males did not decrease over the study period. Initiation rates for females both in the 15-20 and 10-14 year age groups actually increased, at least through the mid-1970s. T hese trends in smoking initiation suggest that knowing the health cons equences of smoking has kept adults from starting to smoke. Such knowl edge either may be lacking or may not be salient among the youngest ag e groups.