Adolescent Smoking Cessation: Implications for Relapse-Sensitive Interventions

Nicotine addiction develops in the first years of tobacco use.¹ Despite health education efforts to prevent adolescents from experimenting with tobacco, more than 3000 youth become regular smokers each day.² A recent study showed that half of all adolescents who become addicted to cigarettes will smoke for at least 20 years before they quit.³ Many adolescents who smoke regularly want to quit and between 55% to 65% of adolescent smokers report having tried to quit.⁴ The need to develop successful tobacco cessation interventions for adolescents is clear. However, few adolescent cessation programs have been developed, let alone adequately evaluated.⁵