Short communication Consumption of higher numbers of cigarettes in Mexican youth: the importance of social permissiveness of smoking Lucia Maria Lotrean a , Luisa Maria Sa´nchez-Zamorano b , Raydel Valde´s-Salgado b , Edna Arillo-Santilla´n b , Betania Allen b , Mauricio Herna´ndez-Avila c , Eduardo Lazcano-Ponce b, * a University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania b Center for Population Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Avenida Universidad 655, Colonia Sta. Maria Ahuacatitlan, CP 62508, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Me´xico Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico c National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Abstract This study sought to assess the relationship between level of cigarette smoking and social factors indicating permissiveness of smoking among youth. This was a school-based cross-sectional questionnaire study carried out in a random sample of students (n =13,293, 11–24 years) at public schools in Morelos, Mexico. Chi 2 test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate correlates of level of smoking (N or V5 cigarettes/day). There is a rising trend in smoking among Mexican in-school youth, a tendency towards smoking initiation at increasingly younger ages and a decrease in the gender gap regarding smoking. When young people smoked at home, at school and outside, they were over fives times as likely to smoke N5 cigarettes/day. Prevention of smoking among Mexican adolescents should emphasize smoke-free schools, no smoking policies in the community and parental antitobacco education. D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Adolescents; Regular smoking; Tobacco; Mexico; Parental smoking; Social permission to smoke; Smoking location 0306-4603/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.09.016 * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +52 777 311 2343. E-mail address: elazcano@correo.insp.mx (E. Lazcano-Ponce). Addictive Behaviors 30 (2005) 1035 – 1041