Abstract
BackgroundStudies on adolescent smoking indicate that the smoking behaviours of their parents, siblings and friends are significant micro-level predictors. Parents' socioeconomic status (SES) is an important macro-level predictor. We examined the longitudinal relationships between these predictors and the initiation and development of adolescents' smoking behaviour in Norway.MethodsWe employed data from The Norwegian Longitudinal Health Behaviour Study (NLHB), in which participants were followed from the age of 13 to 30. We analysed data from the first 5 waves, covering the age span from 13 to 18, with latent curve modeling (LCM).ResultsSmoking rates increased from 3% to 31% from age 13 to age 18. Participants' smoking was strongly associated with their best friends' smoking. Parental SES, parents' smoking and older siblings' smoking predicted adolescents' initial level of smoking. Furthermore, the same variables predicted the development of smoking behaviour from age 13 to 18. Parents' and siblings' smoking behaviours acted as mediators of parents' SES on the smoking habits of adolescents.ConclusionsParents' SES was significantly associated, directly and indirectly, with both smoking initiation and development. Parental and older siblings' smoking behaviours were positively associated with both initiation and development of smoking behaviour in adolescents. There were no significant gender differences in these associations.
Highlights
Studies on adolescent smoking indicate that the smoking behaviours of their parents, siblings and friends are significant micro-level predictors
We focus on smoking initiation processes in adolescence
The rate of daily smoking increased from 3% at age 13 (1990) to 31% at age 18 (1995), which is equivalent to an average increase of 5.6 percentage points per year (Table 2)
Summary
Studies on adolescent smoking indicate that the smoking behaviours of their parents, siblings and friends are significant micro-level predictors. Despite a general decline over cohorts and the well-documented and welldisseminated fact that smoking has severe health consequences, many adolescents still start smoking. It remains an important question what leads young non-smokers to take up smoking. Candidate factors such as the smoking behaviours of parents, siblings and friends are positively correlated with adolescents’ smoking [3,4,5,6]. Little is known about the relative importance of SES for adolescent smoking initiation and development
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