Trends in adolescent cigarette use: The diffusion of daily smoking

The paper examines trends in daily smoking of U.S. high school students, al ong with smoking-related attitudes and beliefs. Data are drawn from surveys of high school seniors from 1978 through 1995, conducted by the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Project (a nationally representative s ample of 15,000-28,000 students per year). Diffusion theory furnishes the c onceptual foundation to assess the spreading acceptance of cigarettes withi n the cohort. The proportion of students who had ever smoked on a daily bas is declined from the late 1970s through the early 1990s but has increased a nnually since 1992. The proportion trying cigarettes has increased, as has the proportion of smokers who escalate to greater frequency. The grade in w hich smokers first reach daily frequency has shown a marked upward shift in the later high school grades, a change which appears to be connected with the delaying effects of school intervention programs, among other factors. The overall upswing in daily smoking is connected with greater social accep tance of smoking and lower perceived risks.