Tobacco control – Youth, HSC, New Zealand.

A range of photos depicting HSC activity areas.

TOBACCO CONTROL - YOUTH

Smoking continues to be an issue for New Zealand teenagers, with 18.3% of 15-19 year olds identified as smokers, with smoking prevalence increasing rapidly with increasing age during the late teens. Smoking in young people is also a major influence on the future tobacco-related disease burden. The addictive properties of tobacco make quitting difficult. High smoking in youth, therefore, usually translates, as they age, into high smoking levels in the older population.

Graph showing the prevalence of daily smoking among Year 10 students, by gender, 1997-2004. Girls line trends down from 16.5% in 1997 to 11.4% in 2004. Boys line trends down from 13.5% in 1997 to 8.1% in 2004.

Through the Smokefree youth programme HSC aims to increase young people’s ability to resist tobacco. This includes:

	Increasing the skills necessary to refuse tobacco.
	Increasing the prevalence of anti-tobacco attitudes and behaviour.
	Increasing the strength of associations between youth and their key social environments.

HSC works to create a ‘youth culture’ that does not include smoking. This is about encouraging young people to make decisions about their health, and be Smokefree. Recent research has helped us to gain a clear understanding of what is important to young people, enabling us to deliver Smokefree messages in a way that is meaningful to youth.

Visit www.lungfish.org.nz, www.smokefree.org.nz or www.smokefreeschools.org.nz for more information on what HSC is doing in this area.

Last updated: 22/2/06.

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