Youth Smoking Survey, 2006 [Canada]: Main File

The main objective of the YSS is to provide benchmark data on national prevalence rates for students in grades 5 through 12. In addition, it provides a unique opportunity to advance our knowledge of the psychosocial correlates of smoking behaviour, including initiation and cessation. Further, it can assist in exposing individual differences in the influence of tobacco marketing, purchasing controls, and other policy initiatives. YSS offers a detailed snapshot of purchasing behaviour, knowledge and awareness of warning labels, and information about the effect of continued tobacco marketing. This information is critical to assessing the need for increased legislative controls on tobacco, and bolstering public support for these policy options. Without this type of monitoring, the effectiveness of our prevention efforts cannot be gauged.