CDC: High Schools Need to Do More to Reduce Tobacco UseSeptember 20, 2001
Research Summary
While a new survey found that schools are doing a better job encouraging students to stop smoking, more effort is needed when students advance to high school, the Associated Press reported Sept. 19.The survey released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that in 2000, two-thirds of public schools in the United States prohibited all forms of tobacco on school property and at off-campus school functions, compared to just 36 percent in 1994.
But the study also found that schools scale back on anti-tobacco activities when students get older and are more likely to be exposed to tobacco and alcohol. According to the report, more than a quarter of schools provide health education to sixth-graders, but only 2 percent teach it to high-school seniors.
"It's during these high-school years that kids are practicing most of these health-risk behaviors," said Dr. Laura Kann, the chief researcher for the study.
The survey is the government's most comprehensive study of school health programs.
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