The Alarming Upward Trend in Cigarette Smoking for College-Educated Blacks

In 2002 African Americans with a college degree were less likely to be smokers than whites with a college degree. Now the reverse is true.

Here are the figures. The latest data shows that for black male college graduates, 12.9 percent are smokers. For white males with a college degree, the figure is 8.9 percent. In 2002, 10.8 percent of black male college graduates smoked cigarettes compared to 11.1 percent of white male college graduates.

The latest data shows that 8.5 percent of black women college graduates smoke cigarettes compared to 7.7 percent of white women with a college diploma. In 2002, 7.7 percent of black women with a college degree smoked cigarettes compared to 9.6 percent of similarly educated white women.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.