title: If parents establish a no-smoking agreement with their offspring, does this prevent adolescents from smoking? Findings from three Dutch studies.
abstract: Data from three studies were used to investigate whether the establishment of a no-smoking agreement is related to lower odds of adolescent smoking. The prevalence of a no-smoking agreement was first explored by using a national sample involving 4,501 Dutch adolescents. Second, data from a longitudinal study among 595 early adolescents and their parents were used to test whether establishing a no-smoking agreement prevents adolescents from smoking. Third, the authors tested among 856 early- and mid-adolescents and their parents, whether in addition to the establishment of a no-smoking agreement, the frequency and quality of communication on smoking issues had an effect on adolescent smoking. The findings do not support that establishing a no-smoking agreement is an effective deterrent with regard to adolescent smoking. Parents who want to prevent smoking might consider focusing their efforts on establishing a good quality of communication on smoking issues whereas parents who just talk a lot about smoking issues without considering the quality of their communication might do more harm than good.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University, The Netherlands. e.denexterblokland@uu.nl
authors.forename: Endy A W
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: den Exter Blokland
authors.forename: Rutger C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Engels
authors.forename: Zeena
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Harakeh
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Hale
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Meeus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D032982:Contracts; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention