School Sports Don't Keep Kids Away From Tobacco

by Aaron Levin

High school athletes smoke only slightly less than their inactive classmates, but use snuff or chewing tobacco more often, says a study drawn from a national survey of American adolescents.

About 28 percent of the athletes smoked compared to 34 percent of those who did not participate in sports, according to the study. The non-athletes tended to smoke more cigarettes, and more often. But the athletic students tended to use other forms of tobacco instead.

"Unlike cigarette use, both chewing tobacco and snuff use were higher among athletic adolescents," says study author Karen Gerlach, suggesting they may be influenced by media images such as close-ups of professional athletes spitting tobacco juice during the World Series.

Using these smokeless tobacco products can lead to nicotine addiction just as cigarettes do, and likewise increase risk of cancers of the mouth and throat.

Regardless of their participation in athletics, almost three out of four students who used tobacco had at least considered quitting, says Gerlach.

"Although adolescents who participated in organized sports were more likely to report ever wanting to quit, they were less likely to have made two or more quit attempts," says Gerlach. Since smokers usually try to quit several times before succeeding.

Athletes who smoked tended to think that quitting was easier, compared to non-athletes, she says. "This may indicate that adolescents participating in organized sports underestimate the difficulty" of how hard it is to quit smoking. For instance, they may stop smoking during the sports season in which they play, but view this as an interruption, not really an opening to quit.

The students interviewed in the survey were a nationally representative sample of 16,357 adolescents in grades nine through 12. About 71 percent of the boys and 57 percent of the girls took part in organized sports, a heartening figure in an era of obesity and declining fitness, say the researchers. Rates of sports participation were higher among white students, males and rural youth.

The study appears in the American Journal of Health Behavior.