Parental tobacco smoking behaviour and their children's smoking and cessation in adulthood.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the extent to which childhood exposure to parental tobacco smoking, smoking cessation and parental disapproval of smoking predicts daily smoking and attempts to quit in adulthood.


METHODS
A longitudinal prospective design was used to examine the possible association between parental smoking variables in childhood and adolescence and subsequent smoking and cessation by age 26 years.


METHODS
Interview data were collected as part of a longitudinal study of some 950 individuals followed from birth to age 26 years. Outcome measures were daily smoking and self-reported attempts to quit smoking.


RESULTS
Less daily smoking among the participants at age 26 was related more strongly to parental smoking cessation in the adolescent years than the childhood years. By contrast, inconsistent advice about smoking in childhood and adolescence predicted later daily smoking. Cessation attempts to age 26 were unrelated to earlier parental quitting but were related to consistent advice in adolescence from both parents about smoking.


CONCLUSIONS
Encouraging parents to voice consistent messages about their disapproval of smoking has a significant role to play in discouraging smoking in their adult children and promoting attempt to quit where their children are smokers.
McGee
Rob
R
Social and Behavioural Research in Cancer Group, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Otago, New Zealand. rob.mcgee@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Williams
Sheila
S
Reeder
Anthony
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*