Influence and selection processes in friendships and adolescent smoking behaviour: the role of parental smoking.
Concerning the role of parental smoking on development of adolescent smoking, most studies have exclusively focused on the direct effects of parents' smoking on youths' smoking. However, parental smoking may also play an indirect role by affecting youths' susceptibility to peer influences and by affecting friendship selection. Data were from a three-wave short-term longitudinal study of 1595 adolescents. Findings showed high similarities in smoking between reciprocal friends. Additionally, friend's smoking and parents' smoking were moderately related to adolescent smoking onset, but parents' smoking did not moderate the prospective association between best friend's smoking and adolescent smoking. Finally, parental smoking seemed to affect the selection of new friends: In particular, adolescents with smoking parents were most likely to become affiliated with smoking friends. There was no evidence that parental smoking affected termination of friendships.
Institute of Family and Child Care Studies, Nijmegen University, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. r.engels@ped.kun.nl
Rutger C M E
RC
Engels
Frank
F
Vitaro
Endy Den Exter
ED
Blokland
Raymond
R
de Kemp
Ron H J
RH
Scholte
D000293:Adolescent; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*