Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Sayada high school pupils towards the smoking

tobacco Is the first cause of preventable death, the prevalence of it'sconsumption in adolescents varies between 10 and 30%. Initiation is the cause of psychological then physical dependence.

study the prevalence of smoking among high school students, assess their knowledge on the subject of smoking addiction and attitudes and practice towards tobacco.

This is a descriptive study, transversal, using a self-administered anonymous questionnaire during 2013.

The response rate was 70 % (n = 505). The average age was 16.7 years, girls accounted 40.4 % of the study population. The prevalence of smoking was 15.2%, it was 26 % for boys and 8% for girls. The nicotine dependence was present in 35% of smokers and 53.2% of them reported having previously attempted to quit at least once. More than half of respondents (58.8%) were unaware of the effect of nicotine, 43.3 % of students did not know the origins of addiction and 11.7% of smokers reported smoking in the school. All smokers, had not reported any obstacle to the purchase of cigarettes. The exhibition of smoke in public places was described by 66.5 % of students.

The results of this study support the need to develop a completeprogram that integrates education for students but also for teachers which affects ample smoking behavior of students.