TOBACCO CONSUMPTION AMONG ADOLESCENTS - EVOLUTION AND SIGNIFICANCES

The drug consuption of adolescents is quite high, especially tabacco consumption. So tabacco prevention is an important problem of public health. Several epidemiological studies were carried out in France among scholar populations aged 11 to 19. The conclusions are the following: 1) the comsumption rate increases during adolescence, from 6% (age 11-12) to 55% (age 18 and more); 2) in the beginning, of the smoking process, periods of abstaining are observed; 3) tabacco consumption is more frequent among youngsters living in rural areas than among those living in urbain ones; 4) tabacco use is related to the consumption of alcohol (especially to drunkenness), psychotropic medecines and ilicit drugs, but also to general problem behavior; 5) for girls, tabacco is more related to depressiveness than for boys. The autor suggests a more global approach of tabacco prevention.