Trends in Cigarette Smoking and Purchasing by Fourth-Form Students in New Zealand, 1992, 1997 and 1998This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Health
Date of publication: May 2000
Abstract
Aim
To chart the trend in fourth form smoking prevalence 1992, 1997 and 1998.
Method
Cross sectional anonymous surveys of fourth formers in 80 secondary schools, over 10 000 responses per survey.
Results
The percentage of girls who smoked regularly (daily or weekly) or occasionally (monthly or less often) increased from 37.5% in 1992 to 43.4% in 1997 to 43.5% in 1998. In boys prevalence increased from 33.0% in 1992 to 35.1% in 1997, decreasing to 34.0% in 1998. The decrease in daily smoking between 1997 and 1998 was significant for both sexes combined, and was mostly due to a 15% decrease in daily smoking among 14 year olds. Among single-brand-preference smokers, the increased cigarette brand smoking prevalence of Benson and Hedges and of Holiday was each separately greater than the increase across all-brands between 1992 and 1998.
Conclusion
Adolescent smoking prevalence can change within a year, and monitoring of every school every year or so is advisable to prompt local and national action. That changes in brand prevalence of either of two brands could explain the one quarter increase in smoking prevalence between 1992 and 1998 suggests that manufacturers’ designs and recipes used for youth-popular and new cigarette brands and variants should be licensed and regularly monitored, and changes only permitted if evidence of no increased addictiveness or harm was produced.
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