Original article
Family processes for children in early elementary school as predictors of smoking initiation

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(01)00327-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the relationship between family processes measured when children are in early elementary school and initiation of cigarette smoking in early adolescence.

Methods: The analysis sample of 810 children was drawn from a longitudinal study of students from a suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest. Predictor variables were assessed when children were in second or third grade, and smoking initiation was measured when the children were in sixth or seventh grade. Measures of family processes were entered separately into logistic regression models that included controls for household structure and income, parent smoking, and peer and child characteristics.

Results: Measures of child attachment to parent and parent involvement with the child’s school were significantly and negatively associated with smoking initiation. Among control variables, parent smoking, child grade level, and child antisocial behavior and depression were the strongest predictors of smoking initiation.

Conclusions: The results point to the importance of family bonding and parent supportiveness as protective factors and parent smoking and early childhood antisocial behavior and depression as risk factors for smoking initiation in pre- or early adolescence.

Section snippets

Sample design and data collection

Subjects in this study were drawn from the Raising Healthy Children (RHC) project, an ongoing longitudinal study of a sample of students drawn from 10 public schools in a suburban Pacific Northwest school district. Nine-hundred-thirty-eight students were enrolled in the project in fall 1993, when they were in either first or second grade at one of the participating schools. An additional 102 students who were from the same grade level cohorts and had transferred to the study schools were

Family circumstances, parent smoking, and child and peer characteristics

At the bivariate level, 9 of the 11 control variables were significantly associated with early initiation at the p < .05 level. Students were more likely to be early initiators if they were white, male, older, from a single-parent or low-income family, or had a parent who smoked. Students were also more likely to initiate cigarette smoking if they were rated relatively high in terms of antisocial behavior or low in terms of academic skills or if they reported relatively high levels of

Discussion

The analyses presented here investigate associations between initiation of cigarette use and family processes measured when children were in early elementary school. In assessing these relationships, child and peer characteristics in early childhood as well as parent smoking and household structure and income were controlled. The results indicate that some of the potential risk and protective factors predicted initiation in the expected direction when measured 4 years prior to when smoking

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by research grant # RO1 DA08093 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Edmonds School District #15 for their support and cooperation in the Raising Healthy Children Program.

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