We know that youth with disabilities are consistently more likely to smoke cigarettes compared to their non-disabled peers, yet little is known about their use of other forms of tobacco, including e-cigarettes. Our overarching objective with this project was to better understand the health needs of adolescents with disabilities and forecast future tobacco-related health concerns.
We used data from the 2015 & 2017 Oregon Healthy Teens survey to estimate tobacco product use in a state-wide representative sample of 11th grade students. We found students with disabilities were more likely to use a variety of tobacco products compared to their non-disabled peers. We also found that common causes of tobacco use among youth, including stress, bullying, victimization, and poor mental health, were higher among youth with disabilities. Our findings suggest that efforts to improve the high school experience for youth with disabilities could potentially result in lower uptake of tobacco products in the first place, and further research is needed to explore this hypothesis.
Check out the data below for more details. You can hover over image graphics for more information on what the statistics mean. In the figure legends, you can highlight "disability" or "no disability" to bring that group's statistics to the forefront.
TOBACCO USE AMONG OREGON TEENS
On par with the national average, nearly 20% of 11th grade students in Oregon report using a tobacco product within 30 days prior to survey. Overall, students reported using a wide variety of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, combustible cigarettes, little and large cigars, hookahs, and chewing tobacco (snuff). Tobacco product use reported below is not mutually exclusive, students may have reported using more than one type of product.
TOBACCO USE DISPARITIES
Students with disabilities were significantly more likely to report smoking cigarettes, ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems like e-cigarettes or vaping devices), Hookah, and little cigars than students without disabilities.
A DIFFERENT HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
On average, students with at least one disability were substantially more likely to experience stressful life events, including violence, abuse, peer pressure, or bullying. They were also more likely to report low family affluence and fair to poor mental health. These stressors are not benign and are associated with tobacco use in other studies.
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