Parental attitudes towards the uptake of smoking by children

Factors related to parental smoking and parenting practice have a big effect on adolescent smoking. More in-depth information about these relationships can be used to inform interventions. This study investigated Maori, Pacific Islander, New Zealand European and Asian parent attitudes and practices in relation to smoking uptake in children.

Parents of children aged 8-15 years, recruited through the researchers' community networks and the media, participated in focus groups or interviews run by ethnically matched facilitators. Areas addressed included parents' beliefs about children smoking, their actions, and their suggestions for tobacco control activities. The data were analysed thematically.

Parents believed that parental smoking, peer pressure and smoking role models in the media influenced smoking uptake in children. They said they would be disappointed if their children started smoking, but their confidence in influencing them varied. Many talked to their children about the health consequences of smoking, including their own negative perceptions of smoking and smokers. Most had smoke-free homes. The parents who smoked tried to avoid smoking around children. There was a good deal of commonality across the different ethnic groups. Important differences related to the provision of interventions.

Parents believed in the value of a smoke-free lifestyle and wanted to protect their children from smoking. Important strategies to prevent smoking in children may include supporting parents to quit, informing them that discouraging children of any age from smoking can be effective, and providing culturally appropriate education and resources to facilitate parent/child communication about smoking.