Grades 7-9

Ever smoking - Grades 7-9

In 2018-19, the majority (90.7%) of students surveyed in grades 7-9 had never tried smoking cigarettes, ranging from 94.6%^a in grade 7 to 86.6%^b in grade 9. However, 9.3% of students overall had tried smoking; Figure 6.1 provides a breakdown of the smoking status of these students.

Bar chart showing smoking status of students in grades 7 to 9 who had ever tried smoking cigarettes from 2018 to 2019. Trends described in text. Data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 6.1 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Figure 6.1: Smoking status of students in grades 7-9 who had ever tried smoking cigarettes, 2018-19
	% of respondents
Daily smoker	0.4 [0.4-0.5]
Non-daily smoker	0.6 [0.4-0.7]
Former smoker	0.2 [0.1-0.3]
Beginner/ Experimenter	1.1 [0.9-1.3]
Past Experimenter	1.5 [1.3-1.8]
Puffer	5.4 [4.6-6.2]
Never tried	90.7 [89.5-91.9]

Current smoker: smoked 100+ cigarettes in lifetime, including:

Daily smoker: at least one cigarette per day for each of the 30 days preceding the survey.
Non-daily smoker: at least one cigarette during the last 30 days, but not every day.

Former smoker: smoked 100+ cigarettes in lifetime and has not smoked at all in the last 30 days.

Beginner/Experimenter: smoked ≥1 whole cigarette and has smoked in the last 30 days.

Past experimenter: smoked ≥1 whole cigarette and has not smoked at all in the last 30 days.

Puffer: tried a few puffs, but never smoked a whole cigarette.

Data source: Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS), 2018-19.

In 2018-19, the percentages of male (9.1%^c) and female (9.4%^d) students in grades 7-9 who had tried smoking cigarettes were not significantly different.³³

The overall percentage of students in grades 7-9 who had ever tried smoking dropped substantially between 1994 and 2002, and appears to have declined slowly since then; the slight increase in prevalence of ever smoking between 2016-17 and 2018-19 was not statistically significant³⁴ (Figure 6.2). The percentage of students who had tried smoking a cigarette increased with grade level: in 2018-19, 5.4% of students in grade 7 had tried smoking, compared to 13.4% of grade 9 students.

Bar chart showing percentage of students in grades 7 to 9 who have ever tried smoking a cigarette, by grade, from 1994 to 2018-19. Trends described in text. Data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 6.2 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Figure 6.2: Percentage of students in grades 7-9 who have ever tried smoking a cigarette, by grade, 1994-2018-19
Survey Year	1994	2002	2004-05	2006-07	2008-09	2010-11	2012-13	2014-15	2016-2017	2018-2019
Overall	51.9	31.5	26.2	25.7	25.6	18.4	16.4	9.8 [7.6-12.0]	8.6 [7.8-9.4]	9.3 [8.1-10.5]
Grade 7	40.2	21.2	17.8	16.8	15.0	9.0	9.8	3.9 [2.2-5.6]	4.4 [3.5-5.3]	5.4 [4.6-6.2]
Grade 8	55.3	32.2	26.6	24.7	25.5	19.2	15.0	9.4 [7.4-11.5]	7.6 [6.7-8.6]	8.8 [7.7-9.9]
Grade 9	60.0	41.9	34.3	35.2	35.7	26.7	24.0	15.5 [11.6-19.3]	13.5 [12.1-15.0]	13.4 [10.5-16.3]

Data sources: Youth Smoking Survey, 1994, 2002, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2012-13; Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS) 2014-2015, 2016-2017, 2018-19.

Bar chart showing percentage of students in grades 7 to 9 who had ever tried smoking a cigarette, by province, from 2018 to 2019. Trends described in text. Data table below with 95% confidence intervals. The percentage of students in grades 7-9 who had ever tried smoking a cigarette varied significantly by province³⁵ (Figure 6.3). For example, 4.4% of youth in Ontario had tried smoking, while more than quadruple that (19.8%) in Saskatchewan had tried.

Figure 6.3 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Figure 6.3: Percentage of students in Grades 7-9 who have ever tried smoking a cigarette, by province*, 2018-2019
	% of students
Saskatchewan	19.8 [15.1-24.6]
Quebec	16.5 [13.8-19.1]
New Brunswick	13.8 [11.8-15.7]
Newfoundland & Labrador	12.3 [8.2-16.5]
Prince Edward Island	12.2 [9.6-14.8]
Nova Scotia	11.5 [9.5-13.4]
Manitoba	10.9 [7.0-14.8]
Canada	9.3 [8.1-10.5]
Alberta	8.0 [5.7-10.2]
British Columbia	8.0 [5.7-10.3]
Ontario	4.4 [2.6-6.2]

Data source: Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS), 2018-2019.

95% confidence intervals for in-text estimates

a: 94.6 [93.8-95.4]
b: 86.6 [83.7-89.5]
c: 9.1 [8.0-10.1]
d: 9.4 [7.8-11.1]