[Early use of tobacco by students]

We present the results concerning smoking prevalence and related factors from a wider cross sectional survey of a representative sample of 5th and 8th grade schoolchildren (10-11 and 13-14 years old respectively) in the city of Barcelona, Spain. The survey was done in the 1986-87 school year. During this period of life there is an increase in the presence of smoking in the social environment and a rise in use of tobacco by schoolchildren, paralleled by a modification of their personal attitudes, radically opposed to smoking in the younger ages. The construction of a model to separate smokers and non smokers on the basis of predictive variables is attempted through discriminant analysis. Results suggest the most important factors are socioeconomic (lower socioeconomic status, higher amounts of pocket money), environmental (having siblings or friends who smoke), attitudinal (agreeing with certain sentences such as "smoking makes you feel good", "smoking is not as harmful as they say", "smokers are not more interesting persons", "I like the smell of tobacco" and "I'll probably smoke in the future") and related to other health associated behaviors (lower physical activity levels, having got drunk). These data will help in the design of school health programs addressing smoking prevention and provide baseline information for their evaluation.