Study Shows Dip in Teen Smoking, Drug Use
WASHINGTON -- A federal report finds slightly fewer teens smoked or used drugs this year than last, reported the Associated Press.
The University of Michigan study reports smoking among younger teens is half the level of the mid-1990s and drug use by that group is down a third.
The lead researcher for the Monitoring the Future study says close to three in four seniors questioned would rather not date a smoker. He says if smoking makes teens "less attractive to the great majority of the opposite sex," tobacco use is bound to fall.
The survey found 15 percent of eight-graders, 31 percent of 10th-graders and 39 percent of 12th-graders had used drugs in the last year. That's down one percentage point or fewer from 2003.
The University of Michigan study reports smoking among younger teens is half the level of the mid-1990s and drug use by that group is down a third.
The lead researcher for the Monitoring the Future study says close to three in four seniors questioned would rather not date a smoker. He says if smoking makes teens "less attractive to the great majority of the opposite sex," tobacco use is bound to fall.
The survey found 15 percent of eight-graders, 31 percent of 10th-graders and 39 percent of 12th-graders had used drugs in the last year. That's down one percentage point or fewer from 2003.