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Objective: To characterize tobacco use according to level of poverty in a random, nationally representative sample of adolescents (10 to 21 years old), living in urban areas with less than 50,000 inhabitants. The study was done in 2001 as part of the baseline assessment of the evaluation of the governmental program, Oportunidades., Material and Methods: A questionnaire was applied to 29,548 adolescents living in 30 000 selected households and it included specific questions on individual tobacco use among other questions., Results: The prevalence of smokers was 3.5% (95% CI: 3.3%-3.7%) and experimenters 9.9% (95% CI: 9.6%-10.2%). A logistic regression model for clustered data was constructed in order to evaluate the associated factors that distinguish a smoker from an experimenter. After adjusting for level of poverty of the household and use of alcohol and drugs, a significant association (OR = 1.5, p <0.01) was found with having a paid job and a differential association was found between gender and age group., Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the additional availability of money that an adolescent has, could increase the prevalence of tobacco smoking and that the program Oportunidades should include prevention campaigns directed specifically at this population group.

Study Objective: s: To analyze the perception of sexual content (PSC) of tobacco advertisements and its potential impact on the process of smoking in adolescents., Design, Participants, and Setting: A questionnaire was administered to 1,186 adolescents at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Mexico City to determine the PSC. In addition, age, gender, susceptibility, receptivity, parental smoking and education, anxiety, depressive symptoms, school category, and grade were determined., Interventions and Measurements: The images of two advertisements were projected in color onto a screen. One of the images had unquestionable sexual content. The impact of the images was evaluated at the same time in the questionnaire., Results: Forty-one percent of participants were nonsmokers (25% nonsusceptible and 16% susceptible), whereas 59% were smokers (47% experimenters and 12% established). Sixty-six percent were receptive to promotions of the tobacco companies. Seventy-two percent perceived sexual contents in the advertisements. A logistic regression model showed that receptivity (odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 3.4), minimal PSC (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.7 to 4.0), and high PSC (OR, 4.4; 95% CI, 2.4 to 8.0) were significantly associated with the status of smokers, whether experimenters or established. The strongest association was found with established smokers. Further analysis showed that male gender was significantly associated with high levels of PSC., Conclusions: These results show that a high percentage of adolescents perceived sexual content in the tobacco advertisement, which, independent of the subject's receptivity, plays a role in the process of smoking, especially in male adolescents.