[ prevalence of smoking and its related personal and environmental factors in Tabrizi adolescents]

ABSTRACT

Cigarette smoking continues to be a major public health problem that specifically affects the adolescent population. The aim of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of smoking and to examine personal and environmental factors related to smoking among adolescents [15-19 years old] in the city of Tabriz. A school-based study was conducted using a random sample of 1785 students from 30 schools in five regions of Tabriz. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire inquired about smoking status, demographic characteristics, and personal and environmental factors, such as parental and friends' smoking status, and group membership. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between independent variables and smoking status using SPSS software. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. About 23% of participants reported ever smoking. 77.4%, 18.2%, and 4.4% were never smoker, experimenter and regular smoker, respectively. Group membership, having smoking friends, and being offered cigarette by others, were strongly associated with smoking status in adolescents. The prevalence of smoking in Tabrizi adolescents is considerable, and having smoker friends is strongly related with adolescent smoking