TY - JOUR
T1 - Close friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking
T2 - Reevaluating their influence on children's smoking
AU - Bricker, Jonathan B.
AU - Peterson, Arthur V.
AU - Andersen, M. Robyn
AU - Leroux, Brian G.
AU - Rajan, Kumar
AU - Sarason, Irwin G.
PY - 2006/4/1
Y1 - 2006/4/1
N2 - A number of longitudinal studies have explored the role of friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking in children's smoking acquisition. A reasonable implication of this previous research is that intervention efforts could be beneficially directed toward countering the potential influence of friends' and possibly older siblings' smoking but not parents' smoking. However, methodological limitations of this previous research motivated our reevaluation of the role of friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking in children's smoking. Close friends' smoking status was assessed when children were in 5th grade, whereas parents' and older siblings' smoking status was assessed when children were in 3rd grade. The outcome, children's daily smoking status, was assessed in 12th grade. The setting was 40 Washington state school districts that participated in the long-term Hutchinson Smoking Prevention Project. Participants were the 4,576 families for whom close friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking status as well as children's smoking status were available. The probability that each close friend's smoking influenced the child to smoke daily was 9% (95% CI = 6%-12%), the probability that each parent's smoking influenced the child to smoke daily was 11% (95% CI = 9%-14%), and the probability that each older sibling's smoking influenced the child to smoke daily was 7% (95% CI = 1%-13%). These results suggest that close friends', parents', and siblings' smoking were similarly important influences on children's smoking. Family-focused interventions could be a valuable future direction of prevention research.
AB - A number of longitudinal studies have explored the role of friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking in children's smoking acquisition. A reasonable implication of this previous research is that intervention efforts could be beneficially directed toward countering the potential influence of friends' and possibly older siblings' smoking but not parents' smoking. However, methodological limitations of this previous research motivated our reevaluation of the role of friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking in children's smoking. Close friends' smoking status was assessed when children were in 5th grade, whereas parents' and older siblings' smoking status was assessed when children were in 3rd grade. The outcome, children's daily smoking status, was assessed in 12th grade. The setting was 40 Washington state school districts that participated in the long-term Hutchinson Smoking Prevention Project. Participants were the 4,576 families for whom close friends', parents', and older siblings' smoking status as well as children's smoking status were available. The probability that each close friend's smoking influenced the child to smoke daily was 9% (95% CI = 6%-12%), the probability that each parent's smoking influenced the child to smoke daily was 11% (95% CI = 9%-14%), and the probability that each older sibling's smoking influenced the child to smoke daily was 7% (95% CI = 1%-13%). These results suggest that close friends', parents', and siblings' smoking were similarly important influences on children's smoking. Family-focused interventions could be a valuable future direction of prevention research.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33646389859&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33646389859&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14622200600576339
DO - 10.1080/14622200600576339
M3 - Article
C2 - 16766414
AN - SCOPUS:33646389859
VL - 8
SP - 217
EP - 226
JO - Nicotine and Tobacco Research
JF - Nicotine and Tobacco Research
SN - 1462-2203
IS - 2
ER -