The National Children and Youth Fitness Study (NCYFS) offered new standards for measuring fitness, profiled youth exercise habits, and helped to explain the contribution of exercise to fitness. Nationwide, 8,000 fifth- through twelfth-graders in 140 schools in 19 states participated in the study between February and May 1984. Findings revealed that these youths had substantially more body fat than their counterparts in the 1960's and that approximately half of the students did not perform sufficient physical activity to maintain effective cardiorespiratory functioning. Results from the 1985 national survey of drug use among high school students indicate that most initial experiences with smoking occur before high school, with 13 percent of students beginning prior to tenth grade. Substantial increases in smoking occur between seventh and eighth grade and inner city Hispanic students show higher smoking rates than white or Black inner city youth.