Prevalence of smoking in a Dunedin sample followed from age 9 to 15 years

A longitudinal study of a Dunedin cohort through to adolescence showed that by age 15 years, 80 percent of the adolescents had tried smoking. There was a steep rise in the prevalence of smoking from age 13 to age 15 years. At age 13 years 1% of the adolescents smoked every day, compared with 15% of them at age 15 years. At age 15 years this group of daily smokers consisted of 18% of the girls and 11% of the boys. The majority of adolescents who had never smoked by 13 years of age, but had smoked by 15 years of age were girls. Prevalence rates from the present study (1987-88) are similar to those reported in the 1960s and 1970s. A large decrease in the number of boys who smoke every day has been offset by a large increase in the number of girls who smoke every day.