O.C. Youths Smoke More Than Average, Study Finds : Health: The report coincides with Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders’ town hall meeting on nonsmoking efforts. Some are wary of survey results.

A new survey of Orange County’s youngsters shows that one in three youths has tried smoking and that the number of 14-year-olds who smoke regularly is substantially higher than the national average.

The survey of 397 junior high school students indicates that 36% of the 12- to 14-year-olds questioned had taken a puff at least once, according to the Southern Coast Regional Board, which coordinates tobacco control efforts in Orange and San Diego counties and is funded by federal cigarette taxes.

SCRB officials released results of their survey to coincide with U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders’ national video “town hall meeting” on youth smoking Thursday morning, which was broadcast live via satellite from Atlanta to sites around the country, including Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana and Huntington Beach.

Elders told the youngsters that most people who smoke started before they left high school and encouraged them to educate classmates about tobacco. Adult advisers handed out the 23rd Surgeon General’s report on smoking, packaged in a colorful magazine meant to be teen-friendly. Elders also took telephone questions from across the country.

“The tobacco industry sells an image and adolescents get an addiction,” Elders said.

Barbara DuBois, executive director of the Southern Coast Regional Board, agreed, saying the Orange County survey indicates youths are susceptible to tobacco advertising.

According to the survey, conducted in the first three months of this year, 10% of the 12-year-olds polled said they are regular smokers. However, 21% of the 14-year-olds said they smoke. That is substantially higher than the national trend, DuBois said, citing studies that show 12% to 14% of 14-year-olds smoke.

“What is accounting for that?” asked DuBois, who attended Elders’ conference at Cal State Fullerton. “The tobacco industry is appealing to people in these age groups locally.”

Orange County adults are the least likely people in California to smoke, according to state statistics. Only 18% regularly smoke, compared to more than 20% statewide.

In the latest county survey, though, Latino students were especially likely to say they take a drag. About 20% of the young Latinos surveyed said they smoke, contrasted with 12% of whites and 13% of Asian Americans.

DuBois blamed ethnically targeted advertising and called for more education.

Vicki Walker, coordinator of the Orange County Department of Education’s Drug Alcohol Tobacco Education project, questioned the SCRB’s findings because the sample may have been primarily of teen-agers in certain pockets of the county rather than a representative sample of the county.

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A survey by the DATE project, which polled more than 1,600 students in the county in the fall of 1992, indicated that 12% of boys and 9.5% of girls in the eighth grade--14-year-olds--had smoked in the previous week, Walker said.

Marilyn Cowan, who coordinates the tobacco education program for the county Health Care Agency, said surveys vary because of questioning techniques and other details. A 1990 statewide survey, for example, showed that about 6% of 12- and 13-year-olds had tried smoking, and only about 3% smoked in the last month.

About 30 people attended Elders’ conference at Cal State Fullerton, and most were either teachers or students who work in tobacco-prevention projects.

Event organizers said they were disappointed by the small turnout.

“Tobacco sometimes isn’t a priority with teachers or the community,” said Jim Walker, head of Citizens for a Tobacco-Free Santa Ana. “It’s a tragedy.”

Profile of Young Smokers

An Orange County survey of 397 youths finds that 36% of 12- to 14-year-olds have tried smoking.

* Regular smokers: 10% of 12-year-olds; 21% of 14-year-olds

* Have tried smoking: 28% of 12-year-olds; 44% of 14-year-olds

* Who buys cigarettes: 25% of 12-year-olds; 52% of 14-year-olds

* Where they buy cigarettes: Convenience store, 56%; vending machines, 48%

* Top two brands: 55% of youths buy Marlboro, followed by Camel (10%)

Source: Southern Coast Regional Board