title: [Tobacco, alcohol and substance use prevalence among elementary and secondary school students in nine cities of Turkey].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies in Turkey regarding substance use have failed to take into consideration the elementary school students. The purpose of the present study is to determine prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, and substance use among elementary and secondary school students in Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in 9 big cities that were selected from different geographic regions of Turkey. According to the student population size of the cities, a sample of 1250 or 2500 students were selected from each city. The questionnaire was administered to 11.989 elementary school students, and 12.270 secondary school students. In elementary school students' questionnaire, for the substances other than tobacco, alcohol, inhalants and cannabis a general term "drug" was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, Izmir had the highest rate of substance use. The prevalence of tobacco use at least once in life time was found to be 16.1% in the elementary school. The lifetime prevalence was found to be 15.4% for alcohol use and 1.7% for inhalants and for general term "drug". The prevalence of tobacco use at least once in life time was 55.9%, for alcohol use it was 45.0%, for cannabis use 4.0%, for inhalant use 5.1%, and for heroin and ecstasy use 2.5% among secondary school students. A significant difference was found between males and females in terms of tobacco, alcohol and other drug use both in the elementary and the secondary school. The risk for substance use was found to be greater in private schools than public schools.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the prevalence of substance use among elementary and secondary school students is low when compared to the findings from other countries. It was observed that especially the prevalence of tobacco use was quite high.
authors.affiliation: Bakirköy Ruh ve Sinir Hastaliklari Hastanesi, Istanbul.
authors.forename: Kültegin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogel
authors.forename: Aytül
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corapçioğlu
authors.forename: Aytekin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sir
authors.forename: Müge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamar
authors.forename: Senel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tot
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Doğan
authors.forename: Sükrü
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uğuz
authors.forename: Cinar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yenilmez
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bilici
authors.forename: Defne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tamar
authors.forename: Olcay
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Liman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology