Cigarette Use, by Adult Education and Adult Employment (Tables 8.1 to 8.3)

Among people aged 18 or older, the prevalence of past year or current cigarette use decreased with increasing educational level. Within each of the adult age groups, almost all differences in rates of current cigarette use between adjacent educational levels were statistically significant.

Educational differences were particularly pronounced between the highest and lowest levels. Overall, for example, the rate of current cigarette use among adults who had not finished high school (40%) was more than twice the rate for adults who were college graduates (17%). In addition, more than half of young adults aged 18 to 25 who had not finished high school were current smokers (56%).

Current employment status also was related to past year and current smoking. Among all adults aged 18 or older, for example, unemployed people had significantly higher rates of current smoking compared with adults in the other employment categories. Adults overall in the "other" employment category (i.e., retired, disabled, homemakers, students, etc.) were significantly less likely than adults who were employed full-time to be current smokers.

This page was last updated on December 30, 2008.