This article presents outcomes from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey
(GYTS) in a nation-wide sample of costarican students aged 11 to 17
years old (mean 14 years old). The GYTS uses a self-administered questionnaire,
with a standard methodology and this papers compares the
results obtained in 1999 and 2002.
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) is a world-wide collaborative
research that includes governmental and non-governmental organizations
in a surveillance initiative under the leadership of the World
Health Organization (WHO), the Panamerican Health Organization
(PAHO) and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and the Costarican Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
(I.A.F.A) as a local counterpart.
The GYTS was designed to enhance the capacity of countries to design,
implement, and evaluate tobacco control and prevention programs.
Ever tobacco use is high (46.4%) as well as current use (20%) and there
is no significant differences among boys and girls. More than 25% of students
smoking their first cigarette before the age of 12 and less students
in 2002 compared with 1999 want to stop smoking. Exposure to advertising
is very high (81,7% of students had seen pro-tobacco ads), and ETS
exposure is high, as well.