Preteen attitudes about smoking and parental factors associated with favorable attitudes.
OBJECTIVE
To describe youth smoking-related attitudes and evaluate the effects of parental factors on child adoption of positive attitudes about smoking.


METHODS
This study used baseline and 20-month data from a family-based smoking-prevention study (82.9% completed both surveys).


METHODS
Telephone recruitment from two health maintenance organizations.


METHODS
Children aged 10 to 12 years and one parent of each child (n=418 families) were randomly assigned to a frequent assessment cohort (12.5% of participants). Intervention. Families received a mailed smoking-prevention packet (parent handbook, videotape about youth smoking, comic book, pen, and stickers), outreach telephone counselor calls to the parent, a newsletter, and medical record prompts for providers to deliver smoking-prevention messages to parents and children.


METHODS
Demographics, tobacco status, attitudes about smoking (Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey), family discussions about tobacco, family cohesiveness (family support and togetherness), parent involvement, parent monitoring, and parenting confidence. Results. One-third of the children endorsed beliefs that they could smoke without becoming addicted, and 8% to 10% endorsed beliefs on the benefits of smoking. Children's positive attitudes about smoking were associated with lower family cohesiveness (p = .01). Parental use of tobacco was the only significant predictor of children's positive attitudes about tobacco at 20 months (p = .03).


CONCLUSIONS
Children as young as 10 years underestimate addictive properties of smoking, which may place them at risk for future smoking. Parental use of tobacco and family cohesiveness are important factors in the formulation of preteen attitudes about smoking.
Bush
Terry
T
Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, 1730 Minor Ave, Suite 16, Seattle, WA 98101, USA. bush.t@ghc.org
Curry
Susan J
SJ
Hollis
Jack
J
Grothaus
Louis
L
Ludman
Evette
E
McAfee
Tim
T
Polen
Michael
M
Oliver
Malia
M
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States