Compared to Distribution

an indicator guage with the arrow in the green the value is in the best half of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the yellow the value is in the 2nd worst quarter of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the red the value is in the worst quarter of communities.

Compared to Target

green circle with white tick inside it meets target; red circle with white cross inside it does not meet target.

Compared to a Single Value

green diamond with downward arrow inside it lower than the comparison value; red diamond with downward arrow inside it higher than the comparison value; blue diamond with downward arrow inside it not statistically different from comparison value.

Trend

green square outline with upward trending arrow inside it green square outline with downward trending arrow inside it non-significant change over time; green square with upward trending arrow inside it green square with downward trending arrow inside it significant change over time; blue square with equals sign no change over time.

Compared to Prior Value

green triangle with upward trending arrow inside it higher than the previous measurement period; green triangle with downward trending arrow inside it lower than the previous measurement period; blue equals sign no statistically different change from previous measurement period.

green chart bars Significantly better than the overall value

red chart bars Significantly worse than the overall value

light blue chart bars No significant difference with the overall value

gray chart bars No data on significance available

Middle School Students who Use Any Tobacco Products

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Measurement Period: 2021-2022

Filter: none (all Counties)

This indicator shows the percentage of middle school students who tried or used tobacco products (for example, cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, Black and Milds, little cigars, or smokeless tobacco) for the first time during the past 12 months.

Why is this important?

Health behavior patterns formed in adolescence play a crucial role in health throughout life. Those who start smoking at a younger age are more likely to have a long-term addiction to nicotine than people who start smoking later in life, putting them at greater risk for smoking-related illness and death. Tobacco use is responsible for more than 430,000 deaths per year among adults in the United States. If smoking prevalence among adolescents persists, it is estimated that 5 million persons under the age of 18 will die prematurely from smoking-related diseases.

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