Abstract

In order to investigate: (1) the attitudes towards smoking, (2) the knowledge about sickness related to smoking, and (3) thoughts about the laws on controlling smoking, a questionnaire was given to 1052 high school students living in Manisa Province. Among these students 59.7% (n=628) were male and 40.3% (n=424) were female and the mean age of the group was 16.1±1.3. Of the students 13.1% (n=138) were smoking cigarette properly and 15.9%(n=168) were smoking occasionnaly. Smoking prevalence among the male students (17.2%) was higher than the female students (7.1%) (p=0.00). The mean age for beginning smoking was 13.2±2.7. While there was no correlation between smoking habits of the students and the parents, smoking habit of the siblings was directly correlated (p=0.000). The most important factor for beginning smoking was curiosity (35%). As the age of beginning smoking decreased the amount of daily cigarette consumption increased (r=0.188, p=0.007). Of the students 95.5% was aware that cigarette was harmful and 95.8% knew about the close relationship between smoking and lung cancer. As a conclusion, it can be said that interaction between adolescents is a very important factor for the prevalence of cigarette smoking.