More County Teenagers Just Say No to Cigarettes
Number of 8th- Graders Who Light Up Drops to 7 Percent in 2004
By Tom Vogt, The Columbian Staff Writer
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Fewer Clark County teens are lighting up.
The smoking rate for local eighth-graders continues to drop, falling to 7 percent in 2004, according to the Clark County Health Department.
That's down from a smoking rate of 10 percent at that age group in 2002. The local findings were released Wednesday morning as part of a statewide announcement of the results of the 2004 Healthy Youth Survey.
The Clark County trend was in line with overall state results, which found declining rates of cigarette and marijuana use among Washington teens over the last two years.
The Washington State Department of Health says the youth smoking rate has dropped by about half since 2000. For Washington's tenth- graders, the rate has dropped from 25 percent in 1999 to 13 percent in 2004.
Preliminary results in Clark County only covered eighth-graders, although the test also is given to sixth-, tenth- and 12th-graders, said Theresa Cross, county health educator.
Cross credited stronger anti-tobacco programs in local schools for the declining smoking rate.
"I've seen kids who have quit," said Glenn Hartman, intervention counselor in the Camas School District.
In addition to providing support to teens who want to quit smoking, Hartman also works with teens who offer a strong "Don't start" message.
"We have a program that targets fifth and sixth grades. Our tenth- graders are mentors, positive role models who can motivate kids. And there is a good reception by the younger kids," Hartman said.
"There is less acceptance of smoking now, and fewer places to smoke," Cross added.
The operation of school campuses can play a role in that, Hartman said: "At the high school level, our closed campus has made a difference in availability."
Another Clark County statistic indicated a decline in overall tobacco use in area homes, Cross said: 37 percent of the eighth- graders said they live with a smoker; that is down from 42 percent in 2002.
"That goes along with the drop in the county's adult smoking rates," Cross said. "It's 20 percent now; 10 years ago, it was 28 or 29 percent."
There also is an increasing awareness of health risks associated with smoking among Clark County teens: 75 percent perceive a risk in smoking from one to five cigarettes a day (up from 70 percent in in 2002); and, 68 percent recognize the risk of second-hand smoke (up from 65 percent in 2002.)
In the presentation at Olympia, Secretary of Health Mary Selecky showed one measurement of progress: A few years ago, 65 children became smokers each day.
"Now that number is down to 45. It's still too many, but we are making great progress," Selecky said. "These new numbers show that kids are getting the message, and our work together with communities and schools is paying off by saving lives."
Kids seem to be getting better at making better choices, said Sandra Mathewson, director of prevention services at Educational Service District 112 in Vancouver.
In 2002, about 34 percent of eighth-graders reported saying "No" to an offer of a cigarette; in 2004, it was up to 42 percent.
Cross said 3,846 Clark County eighth-graders participated in the 2004 Healthy Youth Survey. The survey included 13,708 local students in the sixth, eighth, tenth and 12th grades.
This was the first Healthy Youth Survey to include the Evergreen and Vancouver school districts, which enroll almost two-thirds of the county's public-school students.
The county's tobacco-prevention program budget is $259,633 for this fiscal year.
It is funded by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention and the state's share of a settlement agreement with tobacco companies negotiated by Gov. Christine Gregoire when she was the state's attorney general.