Preteen Attitudes about Smoking and Parental Factors Associated with Favorable Attitudes

Abstract

Purpose. To describe youth smoking-related attitudes and evaluate the effects of parental factors on child adoption of positive attitudes about smoking. Design. This study used baseline and 20-month data from a family-based smoking-prevention study (82.9% completed both surveys). Setting. Telephone recruitment from two health maintenance organizations. Subjects. 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. Measures. 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.