In addition, limited variability in some measures may limit their usefulness as explanatory variables. Our findings suggest that various social dimensions may relate to smoking outcomes selleck chem differently. For example, receiving social assistance (an indicator of deprivation of the students in the school) was strongly associated with smoking prevalence and with buying single cigarettes after adjustment, whereas neighborhood poverty (which could relate to smoking in other associated environments and public places visited locally by students) was related to secondhand smoke exposure. Additional studies are needed to better examine the social processes influencing smoking among poor adolescents. Our results also suggest that the desire to quit smoking may be more frequent in poorer schools.

This association may have not been statistically significant due to the relatively small sample size, since only smokers were included in this analysis. However, this trend may show the need to increase access to interventions aimed at facilitating quitting (such as cognitive therapies and motivational incentives) in these types of schools, given that they have proven efficacy in adolescents (Grimshaw & Stanton, 2006). The purchase of single cigarettes was more frequent among students from poor schools. This finding is congruent with the scarce literature available (Thrasher et al., 2009). The purchase of single cigarettes enables vulnerable populations to buy cigarettes without paying the price of the whole package (Smith et al., 2007) and favors smoking among the poorest (WHO, 2008).

To avoid this, the National Congress, following Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) recommendations, has passed a law banning the sale of packs with fewer than 10 cigarettes and the sale of single cigarettes ( WHO, 2003). Our results also suggest that vulnerable populations are more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke and yet are less likely to support laws for smoke-free environments. Even though such laws are a clear public health priority, it is not clear that banning smoking in public places decreases exposure to secondhand smoke equally in all social classes, particularly among children and youth (Akhtar et al., 2010; Sims et al., 2010). As far as the support of smoking bans is concerned, a report of the GYTS found that knowledge of harm caused by secondhand smoke was the main variable associated with the support of the laws against smoking in public places (Koh et al.

, 2011). Raising awareness among teens, especially those attending disadvantaged schools, about the damage caused by secondhand smoke could be useful to increase their support to smoke-free environment legislation. This is the first study showing an association between tobacco consumption among youth and poverty in Latin America. Other studies have explored the relationship between tobacco and poverty, Cilengitide mainly in developed countries (Blow et al.