Jul 20, 2015 02:17 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Cigarette and alcohol use among teens are stable or declining, while marijuana use is on the rise, according to a recent study.  

"Our analysis shows that public health campaigns are working -- fewer teens are smoking cigarettes," said Stephanie Lanza, professor of biobehavioral health, and scientific director of The Methodology Center at Penn State University. "However, we were surprised to find the very clear message that kids are choosing marijuana over cigarettes."

For the study, Lanza and her colleagues analyzed survey results from nearly 600,000 American high school seniors that were filled out between the years 1976 and 2013. The research team focused on information reported about the rates of use of three different substances -- alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana -- over the course of 37 years.

They were asked about their used of these three substances in the 30 days prior to taking the survey. Overall the researchers found a marked decline in cigarette use, particularly among white teens, and an increase in marijuana use, particularly among black teens.

They found that in 1993, black teens were equally likely to use marijuana and cigarettes, and have continued an upward trend in marijuana use since. White adolescents were more likely to smoke cigarettes than use marijuana until 2011, when marijuana usage slightly surpassed that of cigarettes. In 2013, nearly 19 percent of white teens smoked cigarettes, while almost 22 percent used marijuana. At the same time only about 10 percent of black teens smoked cigarettes, but nearly 25 percent used marijuana.

They also found that the rate of alcohol use has plummeted since the mid-1970s, white adolescents still drink alcohol more than they use any other substance. White teens' alcohol use remained higher than black teens' throughout the study period.

Based on their analysis, researchers found that students were more likely to use marijuana if they also smoked cigarettes than if they did not, and vice versa. Teens were also more likely to use marijuana if they drank excessively than if they did not, and vice versa.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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