Objectives: To find the number of smokers among school-children in Extremadura in the eighth year of EGB/second of ESO, the relationship of their environment with the acquisition of the habit and their attitudes towards tobacco.
Design: Crossover study of a representative sample of the students doing these courses.
Setting: All the schools in our autonomous community.
Participants: 1062 students from various schools.
Measurements: We used a self-administered questionnaire with questions on the tobacco consumption of the interviewees, their parents, siblings, friends and teachers. The study included other variables, such as age, sex, alcohol consumption, parents' educational qualifications and other questions pertinent to attitudes to tobacco.
Results: The age of those surveyed was 13-14 (54% boys), of whom 18.27% were habitual smokers (95% CI, 15.95-20.59). Tobacco consumption was higher in boys (20.48% against 15.24% in girls; p = 0.05). The habit is clearly higher in friends, siblings, fathers and mothers of smokers (p < 0.001; < 0.001; < 0.001, and < 0.01, respectively), but not in teachers. Parents of non-smokers had higher educational qualifications. Smokers showed favourable attitudes towards consumption and a positive association with alcohol intake.
Conclusions: Given their age, the number of smokers is high and is associated with the presence of the habit in their most immediate social environment. Attitudes in our school-children which favour consumption justify the introduction of prevention programmes.