Abstract

An inquiry about the addiction to smoking among students of junior high and high schools was done in Barretos, SP, in 1996. From 12,072 enrolled students in all schools, 4,599 (38.1%) took part. An anonymous questionnaire was applied to evaluate several aspects of smoking, the effects of the advertising and promotion of tobacco products, the practice of sports and the presence of smokers in the student's family. It was observed that 7.2% of the students were smokers, without any difference in relation to sex; there was a progressive increase of the prevalence in the following cases: with the age (reaching 16.6% among the students over 18 years old); among the students of the night school; among those who did not practice any sport and among those belonging to higher social and economic classes (A and B); it was also observed that the beginning of the addiction to smoking happens more frequently after 12 years of age; 78.1% smoked up to 10 cigarettes a day, being heavier the consumption in males; there was higher prevalence among students that referred to have one or more smoking people in the family. As a conclusion we iden-tified the need to repeat these studies in different cities of Brazil, to carry out anti-smoking campaigns at schools and to encourage the government to introduce this issue in the curriculum of primary schools.

Key words: tobacco consumption; students; tobacco advertisement