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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce current use of flavored tobacco products in adolescents who use tobacco — TU‑09 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), CDC/NCCDPHP

Baseline: 77.5 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 who are current tobacco users used flavored tobacco products in 2020

Target: 73.2 percent

Numerator
Number of students in grades 6 through 12 who report having used any flavored tobacco product on 1 or more of the past 30 days.
Denominator
Number of students in grades 6 through 12 who report having used any tobacco product (e-cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco [chewing tobacco/snuff/dip, snus, and dissolvable tobacco], hookah, pipe tobacco, bidis, and/or heated tobacco products) on 1 or more of the past 30 days.
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because of new initiatives and regulations to prevent youth initiation of tobacco.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey:

Numerator:
Were any of the [tobname ] that you used in the past 30 days flavored to taste like menthol, mint, clove or spice, alcohol (wine, cognac), candy, fruit, chocolate, or any other flavor?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don’t Know
Menthol cigarettes are cigarettes that taste like mint. During the past 30 days, were the cigarettes that you usually smoked menthol?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Not sure
During the past 30 days, what brands of cigarettes did you smoke? (Select one or more)
  1. American Spirit
  2. Camel
  3. GPC, Basic, or Doral
  4. Kool
  5. Marlboro
  6. Maverick
  7. Newport
  8. L&M
  9. Pall Mall
  10. Parliament
  11. Winston
  12. Some other brand not listed here (Please specify: _____________________)
  13. Not sure
IF >1 BRAND SELECTED CONTINUE TO: During the past 30 days, what brand of cigarettes did you usually smoke? (Choose only one answer)
  1. I did not smoke a usual brand
  2. American Spirit
  3. Camel
  4. GPC, Basic, or Doral
  5. Kool
  6. Marlboro
  7. Maverick
  8. Newport
  9. L&M
  10. Pall Mall
  11. Parliament
  12. Winston
  13. Some other brand not listed here (Please specify: _____________________)
  14. Not sure

Methodology notes

Use of any tobacco product is defined as use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco/snuff/dip, snus, and dissolvable tobacco), hookah, pipe tobacco, bidis, and/or heated tobacco products on at least one day in the past 30 days.

Flavored tobacco product use was determined by a response of 'yes' to the question, "Were any of the [tobname] that you used in the past 30 days flavored to taste like menthol, mint, clove or spice, alcohol (wine, cognac), candy, fruit, chocolate, or any other flavor?" The respondent was asked this question specifically for each tobacco product that they had reported using during the past 30 days; the text in brackets [tobname] was replaced with each specific tobacco product name (e.g., "Were any of the [e-cigarettes] that you used…"). Those who responded 'no' for each product type were coded as only nonflavored users; and those who did not provide any response to the flavored use question were assigned to missing flavor status.

Menthol cigarette status was determined by asking, "Menthol cigarettes are cigarettes that taste like mint. During the past 30 days, were the cigarettes that you usually smoked menthol?"

All past 30-day cigarette smokers were asked, "During the past 30 days, what brands of cigarettes did you smoke? (Select one or more)." If the respondent selected a single brand option in this question, that was determined to be their usual brand. If a respondent selected >1 brand used during the past 30 days, usual brand was determined by the question, "During the past 30 days, what brand of cigarettes did you usually smoke? (Choose only one answer)." For both questions, write-in responses indicating "Kool" or "Newport" were recoded, accordingly. Among past 30-day cigarette smokers, those responding "Yes" to the menthol question, or who reported "Newport" or "Kool" as the usual cigarette brand were classified as menthol smokers; subsequently those who reported "No" to the menthol question and who did not report "Newport" or "Kool" brands were classified as non-menthol smokers; all other past 30-day cigarette smokers were classified as missing menthol smoking status.

History

Revision History
Revised. 

In 2021, this objective was revised to accommodate changes to the survey questions. Beginning with the 2020 survey year, the list of any tobacco product was revised from: e-cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco [chewing tobacco/snuff/dip, snus, and dissolvable tobacco], hookah, pipe tobacco, and/or bidis to also include heated tobacco products.
The question(s) for flavored tobacco products were revised from "Which of the following tobacco products that you used in the past 30 days were flavored to taste like menthol (mint), alcohol (wine, cognac), candy, fruit, chocolate, or other sweets?" (Participants could select from a list of options to designate the flavored tobacco products they had used) to "Were any of the [tobname] that you used in the past 30 days flavored to taste like menthol, mint, clove or spice, alcohol (wine, cognac), candy, fruit, chocolate, or any other flavor?"
The questions used to assess usual cigarette brand (used to determine menthol cigarette status) were also revised in 2020. Beginning in 2020, all past 30-day cigarette smokers were asked, “During the past 30 days, what brands of cigarettes did you smoke? (Select one or more).” If a respondent selected more than 1 brand used during the past 30 days, usual brand was determined by the question, "During the past 30 days, what brand of cigarettes did you usually smoke? (Choose only one answer)." In previous years, only one usual brand was reported.
Due to these changes, the baseline for this objective was revised from 64.1% in 2018 to 77.5% in 2020. The target was revised from 59.2% to 73.2% using the original target setting method.
Trend issues
In 2020, the data collection timeline was truncated due to widespread school closures due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. Survey administration was due to run from January 16, 2020 through May 15, 2020 but was ended early on March 16, 2020 due to widespread school closures. A weighting factor was applied to each student record to adjust for nonresponse and for varying probabilities of selection. Weights were adjusted to ensure that the weighted proportions of students in each grade matched national population proportions.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.