The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: The study aims to provide nationally representative data on smoking prevalence among young people in Turkey. It also reveals adolescents' knowledge about and attitudes towards tobacco use, their exposure to media messages on smoking and to environmental tobacco smoke, the access and availability of tobacco products for minors and health education about tobacco-smoking in the school curriculum.

Methods: A school-based nationally and regionally representative survey was administered within the frame of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey. The study used a two-stage cluster sampling method. Data on 15 957 students mainly aged 13–15 years were used. Data collection was carried out by the use of an internationally standardized questionnaire.

Results: About one third of the students had already experimented with smoking and 10% of them continued to smoke. About a third of those who had never smoked were susceptible to taking up smoking, a higher proportion of boys (33.1%) than girls (22.3%). Over one third of current smokers intended to give up. About half of the students had not been taught about the effects of tobacco use in school in the previous year. A very high percentage of both current smokers (89.0%) and those who had never smoked (79.2%) were exposed regularly to ETS. Some 43–57.8% of young people had come across antismoking messages in the media, as against about 31–54% who had heard pro-smoking messages. Almost none of the current smokers had ever had a problem buying cigarettes because of their age.