to evaluate the association between tobacco-smoking patterns and family and school variables in school teenagers from Guadalajara, Mexico. 556 high school students at the Universidad de Guadalajara participated in the study. The analysis included the following risk factors: parental, siblings and friends smoking habits, being employed while studying, being an irregular student, school shift (morning/evening), and history of rejection in their first application to enter high-school. 48.3 % of students smoked occasionally and 9.7 % smoked regularly. The logistic regression analysis showed that the covariate smoking peers was associated to occasional and regular consumption when compared to non-consumption. The covariates: smoking father, being an irregular student and history of rejection to the first application, were associated to regular consumption. Unexpectedly, smoking peers was a protective factor for progression from occasional to regular consumption. smoking peers was a risk factor associated to progress from non-smoking to occasional and to regular tobacco consumption. Parental smoking, being an irregular student, and being previously rejected to enter to the high school were identified as risk factors for progression from non-smoking to regular consumption.