title: [Resistance to peer and partner pressure and tobacco and alcohol use among adolescents].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Drug consumption constitutes a public health problem in Mexico. In the international literature and from the health promotion perspective, the Life Skills Approach proposed by the World Health Organization identifies the ability to resist pressure as a key component in the prevention of legal and illegal drug use among adolescents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  An instrument for measuring this ability was developed and validated in order to confirm whether, as the empirical evidence suggests, it differs between users and non-users of alcohol and tobacco.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample was made up of 5651 adolescents, 2637 (47.9%) of whom were male and 2864 (52.1%) female. These participants were selected at random from among public high school pupils in Mexico City, and average age was 16.7 years. The instrument used was that validated in the first phase of the study. To measure patterns of use, we used a scale based on indicators derived from the National Addiction Survey (2002).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analysis yielded three factors: peer pressure acceptance, partner pressure acceptance and peer/partner pressure resistance. Non-users of alcohol and tobacco scored higher in the ability to resist pressure than those who had used alcohol and tobacco in the last month.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on these results, the aim is to develop an addiction prevention program for public high school pupils in Mexico City.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. palos@servidor.unam.mx
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Andrade Palos
authors.forename: Citlalli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez de la Barrera
authors.forename: Lilia Bertha
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Alfaro Martínez
authors.forename: Martha Elba
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sánchez Oviedo
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: López Montes de Oca
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*