Problem/Objective: Research on young adult smoking in the United States, particularly among non-college-educated young adults, remains relatively sparse. What little attention there is has mostly been given to college students, despite non-college young adults representing the majority of the young adult population. Furthermore, behaviors of the non-college young adults may be contributing disproportionately to the high rates of smoking for this age group. This study aimed to fill gaps in knowledge of smoking behaviors among college-educated and non-college-educated young adults.

Methods: We used data from the 2003 Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey to analyze smoking behaviors among young adults ages 18-24 and slightly older young adults ages 25-34 by college status and other measures of socioeconomic position.

Results: Current smoking prevalence among US young adults who are not enrolled in college or do not have a college degree was 30%. This was more than twice the current smoking prevalence among college-educated young adults (14%). Non-college-educated young adults were more likely than college-educated young adults to start smoking at a younger age and less likely to have made a quit attempt, although no differences were found in their intentions to quit. Higher rates of smoking in the non-college-educated population were also evident in the slightly older age group.

Conclusions: Non-college-educated young adults smoke at more than twice the rate of their college-educated counterparts. Targeted prevention and cessation efforts are needed for non-college-educated young adults to prevent excess morbidity and mortality in later years.