Prevalence and characteristics of smoking among adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of smoking and factors associated to the use of cigarettes in the adolescent population of the Francisco Oller High School in Cataño, Puerto Rico. A survey was administered to 106 randomly chosen students, regarding previous use of cigarette, age of first exposure, source of cigarettes, and smoking among peers. The average age was 16 years old. Fifty six percent (56%) of the participants denied ever using cigarettes, 34.5% admitted having used cigarettes and 9.5% admitted to be smokers. A higher prevalence of cigarette experimentation was reported among females (43% versus 26% in males). Smoking was reported among 16% of males vs 3% of females. A 44% admitted having used cigarettes before 14 years of age. A 42.5% of the adolescents reported obtaining their knowledge of tobacco effect from the communication media. This data is similar to published information on adolescents smoking in the United States.