Consumption of higher numbers of cigarettes in Mexican youth: the importance of social permissiveness of smoking.

This study sought to assess the relationship between level of cigarette smoking and social factors indicating permissiveness of smoking among youth. This was a school-based cross-sectional questionnaire study carried out in a random sample of students (n=13,293, 11-24 years) at public schools in Morelos, Mexico. Chi2 test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate correlates of level of smoking (> or < or = 5 cigarettes/day). There is a rising trend in smoking among Mexican in-school youth, a tendency towards smoking initiation at increasingly younger ages and a decrease in the gender gap regarding smoking. When young people smoked at home, at school and outside, they were over fives times as likely to smoke >5 cigarettes/day. Prevention of smoking among Mexican adolescents should emphasize smoke-free schools, no smoking policies in the community and parental anti-tobacco education.