Results for a study done at the University Center for Family and Demographic Research show that while smoking for older adults is starting to decline, smoking for younger adults is holding steady.

The study, which was released in September, showed there has been a decline in smoking for older adults in Ohio since 1984 – dropping from 30 percent to 18 percent in 2008. However, the number of young adults in Ohio smoking, people ranging from 18 to 29 years of age, only decreased from 30 percent to 28 percent since 1984.

The results of this study may cause some to question why younger adults continue to smoke.

‘It seems like older adults are getting this message, but younger adults, for some reason are still smoking,’ said Heidi Lyons, the CFDR’s applied demographer and the author of the study. ‘We’ve grown up as a generation knowing smoking is wrong and it is not good for you.’

Lyons, who gathered her data from the Center for Disease Control, said she thinks young people are still smoking because they are ‘not feeling the ramifications of this unhealthy behavior.’

She said the harmful effects that come from smoking usually hit you when you are older, which is most likely the reason older adults in Ohio are giving up the habit.

For younger people, because the dangerous effects do not show up until later in life, the ‘young adults feel that they’re healthy,’ Lyons said, ‘so it must not be that bad.’

The study stated 64 percent of young adults ‘are more likely to claim that their health is either excellent or good compared to other adults, 50 percent, in Ohio.’

‘I think people in college still smoke because of peer pressure, like from friends,’ said sophomore Katelan Malbon.

Adrienne Beres, junior, said she thinks young adults are still smoking for social reasons.

Lyons said the next step following the study is to figure out why the message that smoking is bad for your health is not being absorbed by young adults.

She said she hopes the study will help young adults realize there are lifelong consequences from smoking, and motivate them to make a change.

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