Tobacco and products use in high school students in adana city centre

Aim: Tobacco and products use is an important public health problem and usually begins in adolescence and youth. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of tobacco use and related factors in young people.Method: The universe of our study is the high schools in Adana city centre. After taking into consideration the properties of the counties and the high schools, 2640 students were chosen as the sample using the weighted random cluster sampling method. All students in the selected classrooms were included. A total of 3025 students were included in the study. Of these, nine students were excluded due to internal inconsistency in their questionnaires. The total number of questionnaires included in the study was 3016.Results: Of 3016 students, 1444 (47,9 %) were male and 1572 (52,1 %) were female. The mean age was 16,49±1,21 years. Of students, 34,16 % stated that they had ever tried smoking, 14,6 stated that they were current smokers, 19 % were water pipe smokers. The most common place to buy tobacco and products was the markets. The second most common method of purchase was buying not as pocket but one-by-one. There was a significant increase in the prevalence of tobacco and products use and the numbers consumed as the students? age, grade, family income, pocket money and the duration of smoking increased. The leading causes to start smoking were friends (30,3 %), the demand to get away from problems (21,7 %) and the smoking behaviour of at least one of the best three friends (17,1 %).Conclusion: It is important to start the struggle for smoking, which is an important public health problem worldwide, before the adolescents and young people start smoking. It is also important to emphasize the use of water pipe as it is as important as cigarette smoking and we suggest immediate measures to be taken.Keywords: Adolescent-young, water pipe, cigarette, tobacco and its products, high school, students.