Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease in the US. Tobacco use and nicotine addiction typically begin during adolescence and young adulthood, and nicotine exposure during adolescence can lead to addiction, may harm brain development, and could lead to sustained tobacco use among youths. The New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency Survey includes questions about tobacco use and other risk behaviors as well as protective (resiliency) factors that can help reduce these risk behaviors

FitzGerald, C

Green, D

Healy, R

Penaloza, L

English

University of New Mexico

University of New Mexico
UNM Digital Repository
Reports & Documents Publications & Reports
2017
New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency 2015 Survey
Results Report: Tobacco Use and Related
Behaviors
R Healy
D Green
C FitzGerald
L Penaloza
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Recommended Citation
Healy, R; D Green; C FitzGerald; and L Penaloza. "New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency 2015 Survey Results Report: Tobacco Use
and Related Behaviors." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-reports-documents/25
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use Trends (High School)
Summary of high school trends, 2005–2015:
Current cigarette smoking and current cigar 
smoking decreased by more than 50%.
e current spit tobacco use rate in 2015 (8.7%)
was similar to the 2005 rate (8.5%). e rate
reached a high of 11.8% in 2009 and has
decreased by 26% since then.
Current hookah use decreased by 46% from 
2013–2015.
Smoked cigarettes before age 13 decreased by 
49%.
Summary of 2015 NM high school tobacco use with NM-U.S. comparison (grades 9–12):
Smoked a cigarette before age 13
Current cigarette smoking
Frequent cigarette smoking
Heavy cigarette smoking (among current smokers)
Current cigar smoking
Current spit tobacco use
Current e-cigarette use
10.3
11.4
2.7
6.5
10.5
8.7
24.0
6.6
10.8
3.4
7.9
10.3
7.3
24.1
6 (of 35 states)
14 (of 37 states)
26 (of 37 states)
23 (of 30 states)
15 (of 33 states)
17 (of 34 states)
14 (of 35 states)
NM
–
–
–
–
–
–
NM% U.S.% NM rankat higher risk
– = no statistically significant difference
Figure 1
Trends in tobacco indicators
Grades 9–12, NM 
2005–2015
Tobacco and Related Behaviors
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease in the 
US.1 Tobacco use and nicotine addiction typically begin during 
adolescence and young adulthood, and nicotine exposure during 
adolescence can lead to addiction, may harm brain development, 
and could lead to sustained tobacco use among youths.2 e New 
Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency Survey includes questions about 
tobacco use and other risk behaviors as well as protective (resil-
iency) factors that can help reduce these risk behaviors.
50
40
30
20
10
0P
er
ce
nt
 (
%
)
2005
25.7
21.3
20.0
8.5
Current hookah use
Current cigarette smoking
Current cigar smoking
Smoked before age 13
Current spit tobacco use
2007
24.2
18.9
18.0
11.8
2009
24.0
18.0
16.8
11.8
2011
20.0
19.9
15.0
14.9
9.5
2013
21.9
14.4
12.3
11.4
8.0
2015
11.9
11.4
10.5
10.3
8.7
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use Trends (Middle School)
Summary of middle school trends, 2009–2015:
Current cigarette smoking decreased by 37%.
Current cigar smoking decreased by 54%.
Smoked before age 11 decreased by 46%. 
ere was no statistically signicant change 
in the rate of current spit tobacco use.
Figure 2
Trends in tobacco indicators
Grades 6–8, NM 
2009–2015
page 2
NEW for 2015: e-cigarette use (vaping)
e 2015 NM-YRRS included two new questions about e-cigarette use, also known as vaping, or inhaling vapor 
produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device such as blu, NJOY, or Starbuzz. Electronic vapor products include 
e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, vape pipes, vaping pens, e-hookahs, and hookah pens. e questions were:
Summary of 2015 middle school tobacco use:
4.3% were current cigarette smokers.
Fewer than 1% (0.4%) were frequent 
cigarette smokers.
12.0% currently used an e-cigarette.
15.4% currently used any form of tobacco
(cigarette, cigar, spit tobacco, hookah, or
e-cigarettes)6.8% currently used cigarettes, cigars, or 
spit tobacco.
Have you ever used an electronic vapor product?
During the past 30 days, on how many days did you use an electronic vapor product?
Among NM high school students:
54.4% ever used an electronic vapor product.
24.0% used an electronic vapor product
in the past 30 days.
Among NM middle school students:
25.4% ever used an electronic vapor product.
12.0% used an electronic vapor product
in the past 30 days.
2009
24.8
6.8
7.1
5.7
4.3
Ever smoked cigarettes
Current cigarette smoking
Current cigar smoking
Smoked before age 11
Current spit tobacco use
2011
23.1
6.8
5.8
5.3
3.7
2013
20.2
4.6
4.5
4.4
3.0
2015
15.4
4.3
2.5
3.1
3.1
50
40
30
20
10
0P
er
ce
nt
 (
%
)
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use and Student Characteristics
Tobacco Use by Sex
Tobacco Use by Grade Level
Grades 9–12:
Boys were more likely than girls to use all types of 
tobacco, except hookah:
Cigarettes – 12.8% vs. 9.8%
Cigars – 13.5% vs. 7.3%.
E-cigarettes – 26.9% vs. 21.9%
Spit tobacco – 14.2% vs. 2.9%
By grade 12, more than half of boys (51.6%) were 
current users of at least one form of tobacco.
Grades 6–8:
ere was no statistically signicant dierence 
between boys and girls for current cigarette 
smoking (4.9% vs. 3.7%), ever smoked cigarettes 
(15.4% vs. 15.6%), current e-cigarette use (13.9% 
vs. 10.0%), or current hookah use (4.2% vs. 2.4%).
Boys were more likely than girls to currently 
smoke cigars (4.2% vs. 2.4%) and to currently use 
spit tobacco (4.2% vs. 1.9%).
Grades 9–12:
With the exception of e-cigarette use, the prevalence 
of all forms of tobacco use increased signicantly as 
grade level increased. Compared to 9th graders, 12th 
grade students were:
more than two times as likely to currently smoke 
cigarettes as 9th graders (15.8 vs. 7.2%)
 2.4 times as likely to currently smoke cigars as 9th 
graders (16.0% vs. 6.6%)
1.5 times as likely to currently use hookahs as 
9th graders (14.4% vs. 9.5%)
1.8 times as likely to currently use spit tobacco 
as 9th graders (11.9% vs. 6.6%)
Grades 6–8:
All tobacco use indicators increased in prevalence 
with grade level. Compared to 6th graders, 8th grade 
students were:
3 times as likely to have ever smoked cigarettes 
(23.6% vs. 7.8%)
2 times as likely to currently smoke cigarettes 
(5.5% vs. 2.6%)
2.4 times as likely to currently smoke cigars 
(4.4% vs. 1.8%)
2.5 times as likely to currently use hookahs 
(6.1% vs. 2.4%)
4.7 times as likely to currently use spit tobacco 
(5.6% vs. 1.2)
3 times as likely to currently use e-cigarettes 
(17.6% vs. 5.8)
2.8 times as likely to currently use any form of 
tobacco (22.5% vs. 8.0%)
page 3
Current use: Throughout the report, “current” refers 
to behaviors that took place within the past 30 
days.
Spit tobacco: Spit tobacco is a type of smokeless 
tobacco such as chewing tobacco, snuff, or dip.
Frequent smoker: A frequent smoker has smoked 
on 20 of the past 30 days.
Heavy smoker: A heavy smoker has smoked 11 
or more cigarettes per day on the days that they 
smoked cigarettes.
TERMINOLOGY
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use and Student Characteristics
Tobacco Use by Grade and Sex
Figure 4
Any current tobacco use 
by sex and grade level 
Grades 6–8 and 
Grades 9–12, NM 
2015
Any current tobacco use among 8th graders was 
2.8 times that of 6th graders (22.5% vs. 8.0%).
Any current tobacco use among 12th graders was 
1.4 times that of 9th graders (40.9% vs. 28.5%).
page 4
Among both middle school and high school students, any current tobacco use (using at least one of 
the following: cigarettes, cigars, hookah, e-cigarettes, or spit tobacco) increased with grade level.
is increase by grade level was not the same for girls as it was for boys. Among boys, the increase in 
tobacco use with grade level continued through all grades, from 6th to 12th grade. Among girls, the 
increase by grade level had almost leveled out by high school. e disparity between boys and girls 
for the rate of any tobacco use was very slight from 7th grade to 10th grade, but by the 12th grade, 
the rate among boys (51.6%) was 1.7 times the rate among girls (30.1%).
100
80
60
40
20
0P
er
ce
nt
 (
%
) 
of
 s
tu
de
nt
s
6th
10.9
5.0
7th
16.1
15.4
8th
25.6
19.3
9th
31.1
25.8
10th
31.4
27.6
11th
40.1
32.9
12th
51.6
30.1
Boys
Girls
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use and Student Characteristics
Figure 5
Current cigarette smoking and 
equent and heavy smoking 
(among current smokers)
by race/ethnicity 
Grades 9–12, NM 
2015
Tobacco Use by Race/Ethnicity
page 5
100
80
60
40
20
0P
er
ce
nt
 (
%
)
American Indian/Alaska Native
Asian or Pacific Islander
Black/African American
Hispanic
White
Current smoking
15.9 12.4 10.7 10.4
9.4
Frequent smoking
(among current smokers)
11.1
29.0
38.3
20.2
32.0
Heavy smoking
(among current smokers)
2.0
24.9
20.6
8.0
5.3
Grades 9–12:
Asian/Pacic Islander students were more likely 
than Hispanic and White students to currently 
smoke cigars (18.2% vs. 10.3% and 9.5%) and 
more likely than Hispanic students to currently 
use spit tobacco (16.3% vs. 7.5%).
Hispanic students (26.3%) were more likely than 
White (20.9%) or Asian/Pacic Islander (16.6%) 
students to currently use e-cigarettes.
American Indian/Alaska Native students (16.4%) 
were more likely than White (10.7%) or Hispanic 
(10.3%) students to currently smoke cigarettes, 
but were the least likely to be frequent or heavy 
smokers.
Grades 6–8:
ere were no statistically signicant dierences 
by race/ethnicity for current use of cigarettes, 
cigars, hookah, e-cigarettes, or spit tobacco.
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use and Risk Behaviors
Current Tobacco Use and Associated Risks (High School)
Figure 6
Current tobacco use 
Grades 9–12, NM 
2015
Figure 7
Selected risk behaviors by
current tobacco use 
Grades 9–12, NM 
2015
page 6
Most NM high school students (67.3%) did not 
use any tobacco products in the past 30 days. 
Among the students who used a single type of 
tobacco, e-cigarettes were by far the most 
common tobacco product used.
Current use of multiple tobacco products was associated with a higher prevalence of risk behaviors 
than use of one single form of tobacco. Current use of a single tobacco product was associated with 
a higher prevalence of risk behaviors than no current tobacco use.
No tobacco use
67.3%
2+ types
tobacco use
16.4%
Single type
tobacco use
16.3%
Only cigarettes 1.4%
Only cigars 0.7%
Only spit tobacco 1.9%
Only hookah 1.1%
Only e-cigarettes
11.2%
0 4020 60 10080
Percent (%) of students who engaged in each behavior
60.4
44.3
29.4
19.0
11.0
5.4
72.7
42.7
12.3
27.3
6.9
1.6
23.7
13.1
5.3
50.5
22.9
4.7
Texted or emailed
while driving
In a fight on
school property
Binge drinking
Current alcohol use
Drove while drinking
Suicide attempt
(past 12 months)
2+ types of tobacco use
Single type of tobacco use
No tobacco use
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Tobacco Use and Risk Behaviors
Current Tobacco Use and Associated Risks (Middle School)
Figure 8
Current tobacco use 
Grades 6–8, NM 
2015
Figure 9
Selected risk behaviors
by tobacco use 
Grades 6–8, NM 
2015
page 7
Most NM middle school students (84.9%) did 
not use any tobacco products in the past 30 
days. Among students who used a single type of 
tobacco, most students used e-cigarettes.
As with high school students, among middle school students current use of multiple tobacco 
products was associated with higher prevalence of other risk factors than use of a single tobacco 
product. Use of a single tobacco product was associated with higher prevalence of risk factors than 
no tobacco use.
No tobacco use
84.9%
2+ types
tobacco use
6.0%
Single type
tobacco use
9.1%
Spit tobacco only 0.7%
Cigarette only 0.7%
Hookah only 0.5%
Cigar only 0.2%
E-cigarette only
7.0%
0 20 40 60 10080
Percent (%) of students
51.3
32.6
15.1
30.5
18.9
6.2
51.1
26.8
3.5
3.2
31.1
58.0
41.5
15.8
1.2
38.8
84.5
69.6
2+ types of tobacco use
Single type of tobacco use
No tobacco use
Rode with
drinking driver
Ever tried
to kill self
Current
alcohol use
Current
marijuana use
Binge
drinking
In a fight on
school property
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Risk and Resiliency
Resiliency Factors and Current Tobacco Use (High School)
Students with supportive families, teachers, peers, and adults in the community were less likely to use any 
form of tobacco than those who did not have these protective (resiliency) factors.
Figure 10
Any current tobacco use
by resiliency factors 
Grades 9–12, NM 
2015
page 8
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percent (%) who currently used any form of tobacco
AT MY SCHOOL…
IN MY HOME…
OUTSIDE OF MY HOME OR SCHOOL…
AMONG MY PEERS…
OTHER PROTECTIVE FACTORS
47.1
30.2
48.6
30.4
55.0
30.6
35.7
30.3
41.8
31.1
40.9
30.7
34.3
30.7
43.6
31.1
37.9
31.4
54.2
30.6
58.9
30.5
46.4
30.5
54.1
30.8
A parent or other adult is
interested in my school work.
A teacher or other adult
listens to me when I have
something to say.
A teacher or other adult
believes I will be a success.
There are clear rules about
what students can and
cannot do.
I am involved in sports,
clubs, or other activities.
There is an adult who
cares about me.
There is an adult who tells me
when I do a good job.
I am part of group activities.
I have a friend around my
own age who cares about me.
I have a friend around my
own age who helps me
when I have problems.
I plan to go to college or some
other school after high school.
A parent or other adult
believes I will be a success.
A parent or other adult
knows where I am
when I’m not home.
Not at all true
A little bit, 
pretty much, or 
very much true
How to read this chart: 
Each colored bar 
represents the rate of 
current tobacco use 
among high school 
students. 
For example: Among 
students who said it was 
not at all true that “I plan 
to go to college or some 
other school after high 
school,” 54.2% used 
tobacco (dark blue). 
Among those said it was a 
little bit, pretty much, or 
very much true (light blue), 
30.6% used tobacco.
Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors
data report om the 2015
Notes
1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. e Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. A Report of the 
Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National 
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Oce on Smoking and Health, 2014 [accessed 2016 Jul 7]
2. Singh T. Tobacco use among middle and high school students—United States, 2011–2015. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality 
weekly report, 2016;65.
Healy R, Green D, FitzGerald C, and Peñaloza L. 2017. New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency 2015 Survey 
Results Report: Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors. Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico 
Department of Health, School and Family Support Bureau, New Mexico Public Education Department, and 
the University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center.
is report was produced by the NM Department of Health, the NM Public Education Department, and 
the University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center. e NM-YRRS receives support from the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cooperation with the NM PED through Grant number 
1U87PS004195-01. For more information about the YRRS, see www.youthrisk.org or 
www.nmhealth.org/go/youth. For more information about tobacco use in NM, contact James Padilla, 
Tobacco Epidemiologist at james.padilla@state.nm.us or 505.841.5839.
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New Mexico Youth Risk & Resiliency 2015 Survey Results Report: Tobacco Use and Related Behaviors

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