In most industrialised countries, the number of adolescent smokers has increased dramatically during the past several years. Encouraging smokers to quit constitutes one of several methods to control smoking. To improve our understanding of quitting during adolescence and help professionals address the specific attributes and needs of those who quit, we compared the characteristics of youth who report having quit (former smokers, FS) with those of both "regular" smokers (RS) and nonsmokers (NS). As part of the Swiss Multicentre Adolescent Survey on Health, anonymous self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a national representative sample of 9268 15- to 20-year-old teenagers. A multiple logistic regression analysis showed FS to differ from NS for the following variables: suicide attempt (odds ratio, OR 2.10); sleeping difficulties (OR 1.67); delinquency (1.61); assault (OR 1.55); painting of graffiti (OR 1.52); shoplifting (OR 1.51); dissatisfaction with academic choices (OR 1.46); suffering from back problems (OR 1.31); belonging to a sports club (OR 0.78); receiving good marks at school (OR 0.75); and having a positive future expectation with regard to health (OR 0.74). FS differed from RS for the following variables: practising sport (OR 2.18); scouting (OR: 1.97); shoplifting (OR 0.63); tardiness (OR 0.63 and having many friends (OR 0.59). CONCLUSION: Former smokers resemble regular smokers as far as mental health and general health are concerned, whereas they behave similarly to nonsmokers in the field of social and sports activities.