Parental influence on adolescent smoking cessation: is there a gender difference?
Grace Kong1, Deepa Camenga, Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin
1Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, United States. grace.kong@yale.edu
Addictive Behaviors
|November 11, 2011
Summary
Parental smoking and disapproval influence adolescent smoking cessation. Even one smoking parent reduces abstinence, while parental disapproval impacts quit attempts differently in boys versus girls, highlighting gender-specific effects.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Adolescent Health
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Parental influence is crucial in adolescent behaviors, including smoking.
- Understanding parental factors in adolescent smoking cessation is vital for public health interventions.
- Gender-specific parental influences on adolescent smoking cessation require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between parental disapproval of smoking and parental smoking status with adolescent smoking cessation behaviors.
- To determine if these associations differ between adolescent boys and girls.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 253 daily-smoking, high school-aged adolescents.
- Data collected on smoking behaviors, past cessation attempts (duration >24 hours), longest abstinence period, parental disapproval, and parental smoking status.
- Logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations.
Main Results:
- Having even one smoking parent was linked to decreased odds of abstinence for over 2 days in all adolescents.
- For girls, having no smoking parents correlated with longer abstinence periods (>2 weeks).
- Parental disapproval of smoking was associated with more quit attempts in boys, but not in girls.
Conclusions:
- Parental factors significantly influence adolescent smoking cessation behaviors.
- The impact of parental smoking and disapproval on cessation appears to be gender-specific.
- Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms behind these gender differences.
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