NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE: cigarettes & race/ethnicity

1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Cigarette Use, by Age Group and Race/Ethnicity (Tables 8.1 to 8.3)

People who were white (and not of Hispanic origin) were more likely than people who were black or Hispanic to have ever smoked.19 This pattern held across all age groups. Notably, 42% of white youths aged12 to 17 had ever smoked a cigarette compared with 28% of black youths and 33% of Hispanic youths. Among young adults aged 18 to 25, nearly three-fourths of whites had ever smoked compared with about 55% to 56% of young adult blacks and Hispanics.

Whites also were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to be past year or current smokers in all age groups except for adults aged 35 or older. In this latter age group, blacks were significantly more likely than whites to be past year or current smokers.

19 In the interest of readability for this report, "white" is used to indicate "white, non-Hispanic," and "black" to indicate "black, non-Hispanic."

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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