[Tobacco consumption among adolescents: evolution and significance]

The drug consumption of adolescents is quite high, especially tobacco consumption. So tobacco prevention is an important problem of public health. Several epidemiological studies were carried out in France among scholar populations aged 11 to 19. The conclusions are the following: 1) the consumption rate increases during adolescence, from 6% (age 11-12) to 55% (age 18 and more); 2) in the beginning, of the smoking process, periods of abstaining are observed; 3) tobacco consumption is more frequent among youngsters living in rural areas than among those living in urban ones; 4) tobacco use is related to the consumption of alcohol (especially to drunkenness), psychotropic medicines and illicit drugs, but also to general problem behavior; 5) for girls, tobacco is more related to depressiveness than for boys. The author suggests a more global approach of tobacco prevention.