Beyond modeling: Parenting practices, parental smoking history, and adolescent cigarette smoking

Abstract

This study explored parental beliefs and behaviors designed to convey an antismoking message across levels of self-reported parent and adolescent smoking behavior. Parental self-efficacy, beliefs about smoking, the family relationship, antismoking messages, reactions to smoking, and household smoking rules were explored. Participants were 345 6th, 8th, and 10th graders (50% female; 93% White) and their parents (86% mothers). Beliefs about smoking, parental efficacy, and rules varied across levels of both parental and adolescent smoking. Parents with a history of smoking and parents of adolescents who had tried smoking were less efficacious, held weaker antismoking beliefs, and less often reported household smoking rules. Overall, examining parental behavior across levels of both parent and youth smoking is important. Similarly, parental efficacy, not previously studied in relation to parenting about smoking, may be important to target in future interventions.

Introduction

Parents and the family context play important roles in youth smoking. Both active attempts by parents to deter cigarette smoking with antismoking messages or clear consequences for smoking and more passive familial factors such as the nature of the family relationship have consistently been associated with youth smoking (e.g., Biglan et al., 1995, Chassin et al., 1986, Cohen & Rice, 1997, Cohen et al., 1994, Doherty & Allen, 1994, Henriksen & Jackson, 1998, Kandel & Wu, 1995, Radziszewska et al., 1996). Adolescents themselves also acknowledge the important role that parents play in providing smoking-related messages (Mermelstein, 1999). Although the evidence for the link between parenting practices and youth smoking is increasing, less is known about how parenting practices vary by parental smoking experiences or by adolescents' own patterns of experimentation.

The purpose of this study was to examine how parenting practices and smoking-related attitudes, along with the family relationship, vary by parental smoking experience and by stage of adolescent cigarette use. The present study goes beyond previous work by considering multiple stages of use for both parents and adolescents, collecting data about parenting practices directly from the parents, rather than examining parental practices based solely on child report (e.g., Henriksen & Jackson, 1998), and simultaneously examining several key family variables. This study also includes the smoking behaviors of adolescents, rather than focusing on early adolescents just entering the early stages of experimentation (e.g., Fearnow et al., 1998, Jackson & Henriksen, 1997).

There are many ways in which parents can attempt to influence their child's decision to smoke. Parents can attempt to convey antismoking messages to their child overtly, such as by providing antismoking messages, or more covertly, for example, by establishing household antismoking policies. Both overt and covert parental practices have been found to be effective. For example, children and early adolescents who report parental antismoking and antidrug use statements are less likely either to use substances or to report future intentions to smoke cigarettes Bailey et al., 1993, Chassin et al., 1998, Henriksen & Jackson, 1998, Jackson, 1997, Jackson & Henriksen, 1997. Even general communication, in the context of a positive parent–child relationship, is associated with lower rates of alcohol and tobacco use Cohen et al., 1994, Kafka & London, 1991.

Establishing household rules about cigarette smoking and consequences for using cigarettes is another way to convey antismoking messages to youth. Recent studies have found that home smoking bans are associated with decreased rates of youth smoking Chassin et al., 1998, Farkas et al., 2000, Wakefield et al., 2000. Established consequences of smoking are also important. Jackson (1997) and Jackson and Henriksen (1997) found that a lower expectation of being punished for smoking was related to increased rates of smoking initiation in children. Overall, these studies support the importance of household smoking policies and established consequences for smoking.

Parents' behaviors, such as setting household smoking rules or making antismoking statements, are likely to be a function of their own experiences with smoking, their smoking-related beliefs and attitudes, their confidence in their ability to influence their child's behavior (i.e., their self-efficacy), and the overall family environment. Self-efficacy for parenting, both in general and specific to conveying information about smoking, may affect adolescent smoking directly and affect a parent's antismoking socialization practices. Parental self-efficacy encompasses the mastery of the attitudes, the skills, and the behaviors essential to exerting control over various parenting and family roles (Schunk, 1990). A parent's sense of efficacy to influence his or her child's smoking by, for example, discussing the issue is likely to be related both to a parent's own smoking experiences and to the types of parenting they engage in. To date, no study has examined parental self-efficacy in relation to antismoking socialization and to child smoking. We expected, however, that parental efficacy would be influenced by parental smoking history and would also influence child smoking.

It is also important to consider the family environment because it provides an overall context or background within which parent–child interactions take place and has also been independently related to adolescent smoking behavior. Low family cohesion, poor familial functioning, and family disunion have been related to increased rates of adolescent cigarette use (Doherty & Allen, 1994). Inadequate parental monitoring Biglan et al., 1995, Radziszewska et al., 1996 and perceived parental permissiveness Cohen & Rice, 1997, Kandel & Wu, 1995 have also been consistently associated with higher rates of adolescent substance use.

One of the limitations of much of the work on parenting practices and youth smoking has been the lack of consideration of variations in parental smoking history. For example, some studies have examined parenting practices and parent smoking based on child reports of parental smoking Henriksen & Jackson, 1998, Jackson & Henriksen, 1997, or examined only recent smoking by parents (e.g., in the last year) (Kandel & Wu, 1995). The consideration of different levels of parental smoking across the lifetime may help to account for some of the discrepancies in the literature about the link between parent and child smoking, which may have been the result of different conceptualizations of parent smoking, indirect assessments of parent smoking, or only measuring current use Distefan et al., 1998, Landrine et al., 1994, McNeill et al., 1988.

However, considering different levels or stages of parental smoking across the lifetime may be important. Both Bauman, Foshee, Linzer, & Koch (1990) and Bailey et al. (1993) found that lifetime parental smoking, even when parents have not smoked during the child's lifetime, is an important predictor of adolescent smoking. Given these findings, it may be reasonable to hypothesize that levels of parental use may influence parental attitudes, efficacy, and antismoking socialization behaviors. For example, parents who have a history of youthful experimentation and who did not progress to regular smoking may feel that adolescent smoking is a “rite of passage” and may not feel as concerned or set rules about what they perceive as their child's harmless experimentation. Parents who are ex-smokers or former experimenters may not feel confident about their ability to set rules or consequences for their child's smoking given their own history. If this is the case, then it may be important to target these parents in intervention efforts.

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that parenting practices and attitudes would vary in an ordered fashion by parental smoking history. We considered four levels of use: never smoker, former experimenter, former regular smoker, and current smoker. We hypothesized that parents who were current smokers would report the lowest levels of antismoking beliefs, self-efficacy, and antismoking socialization practices, followed in order by former smokers, former experimenters, and never smokers. We expected that the more general variables of the family relationship and parental monitoring would similarly vary by parental smoking.

This study goes beyond prior work in this area by also examining how parental factors vary by stage of adolescent smoking. Adolescent smoking is frequently considered to progress through stages. Mayhew, Flay, and Mott (2000) outline six stages of smoking onset: (1) nonsmoking with no intention to smoke; (2) nonsmoking with an intention to smoke; (3) trier; (4) experimenter; (5) regular user; and (6) established/daily user or dependent smoker. This study focused on adolescents in the earlier (i.e., up to and including regular users) stages of use. Of interest was whether parenting practices varied by stage of adolescent smoking. We hypothesized that parental attitudes and practices, as well as the family environment, would fall in an ordered manner across the stages of use with parents of nonsmokers/nonintenders having the highest antismoking attitudes and practices, followed in order by parents of youth in each of the stages.