CA Cancer J Clin 2002; 52:64
doi: 10.3322/canjclin.52.2.64
© 2002 American Cancer Society
PARENTS INFLUENTIAL IN DISCOURAGING KIDS FROM SMOKING
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When it comes to smoking, parents have more influence over their children's decisions than they realize.
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If kids are convinced that their parents strongly disapprove of smoking, they're less likely to do it, according to a new study reported in Pediatrics (2001;108:1256-1262). This adds to a growing body of evidence that parents have more influence on their teens than they may realize.
"Tell your kids that you expect them never to smoke and that they will be punished if they do," advises lead author, James D. Sargent, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Dartmouth College. "Remind them of this from time to time. Steer them away from peers who smoke."
Sargent and coauthor, Madeline Dalton, PhD, studied hundreds of children and teens in grades four to eleven attending three rural Vermont schools. They questioned the students over a three-year period about parental disapproval of smoking and whether their parents, siblings, and friends smoked. Each year, the youths were asked, "how do you think your mother/father would react if you were smoking cigarettes and she/he knew about it?" A response of "she/he would tell me to stop and be very upset," was an example of an answer that indicated strong parental disapproval.
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When Parents Ease Up, Kids Are More Likely to Smoke
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The youths who indicated their parents would strongly disapprove were less than half as likely to become established smokers (they had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and had smoked within the past 30 days) compared with those who did not think their parents would strongly disapprove, according to the study. Over the three-year period, students who saw their parents as becoming more lenient were twice as likely to become established smokers, the authors report.
As for peer pressure to smoke—the study found that it doesn't count as much as parental disapproval. Those students whose peers smoked were less likely to go along with the crowd if both parents strongly disapproved of smoking.
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Do As I Say, Not As I Do
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What if the parents smoke? Even when one or both parents smoked, teens were less likely to smoke if their parents disapproved of them smoking. It's a classic "do as I say, not as I do" situation, but the teens in this study accepted it. Sargent said he was not surprised to find that parental approval or disapproval was a stronger influence than a parent smoking.
"Some parents who smoke might feel guilty about telling their children not to. This should not keep them from talking about what it is like to be addicted to tobacco, how difficult it is to quit, how they started—they probably started as teens never thinking they would get hooked—and how much they want to quit," Sargent said.
"Smoking parents can also be effective at setting nonsmoking rules for their kids," he said. Past studies have shown that kids are less likely to smoke if they believe they will be punished for it, and that kids from households that prohibit smoking are less likely to smoke.
"You show your kid you love him or her by setting rules and limits and enforcing them," he said. "Kids get upset when punished, but if you talk to them and listen to their concerns—and continue to be firm—they ultimately feel closer to you, the parent."
According to the authors, "These findings contrast with the widespread notion that there is little parents can do to prevent their adolescents from becoming smokers... This finding supports the idea that parents can be trained to effectively communicate nonsmoking policies for their adolescents, and that adolescents will respond to this type of parental input if the message remains consistent over time."
American Cancer Society Director of Tobacco Control, Ron Todd, MSEd, agrees. "Because most parents are unaware of how powerful their influence can be, it is important for clinicians and public health professionals to remind them, and to provide guidance on how to communicate with their kids about tobacco."
American Cancer Society Director of Child and Youth Initiatives, Beth Stevenson, MPH, also emphasizes that a strong and clear message from parents about tobacco is valuable, and that this kind of parent involvement can have even wider impact. "Active parenting with good, clear communication can be critical to helping young people develop the skills and confidence to say no to tobacco and alcohol use, for instance. It can also be critical to impacting positive behaviors like increasing physical activity, practicing sun protection, and maintaining a nutritious diet."
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When Parents Ease Up,...
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