ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is determining the prevalence of smoking stages in adolescents of Tabriz city [northwest of Iran] and identifying the personal, environmental, and psychological factors relating to cigarette smoking. Fifty-seven high schools were randomly selected, and 4903 students were completed a self-administered questionnaire about cigarette smoking and the related risk factors. The association of independent variables with cigarette smoking was evaluated using the ordinal logistic regression model. In total, 17.3% of the participants were experimenters [95% CI: 15.8-18.9] and 5.0% were regular smokers [95% CI: 3.7-6.2]. The results showed that the male gender [OR=2.92; CI: 1.94-4.77], age [OR=1.27; CI: 1.02-1.64], having general risk taking behavior [OR=1.50; CI: 1.02-2.21], presence of a cigarette smoker in the family [OR=1.78; CI: 1.23-2.54], friendship with close cigarette smoker friends [OR=2.52; CI: 1.65- 3.86], substance abuse experience [OR=8.27; CI: 2.61-25.61], attitude toward cigarette smoking [OR=1.22; CI: 1.10-1.27] and positive thinking about cigarette smoking [OR=1.05; CI: 1.01-1.14] are associated to cigarette smoking in adolescents. The cigarette smoking prevalence is minimal in Tabriz city adolescents, especially in girls; but the experimenter prevalence is considerable. Findings of this study justifies adopting more serious measures in the pre-adolescence and adolescence period