How Do Parents Educate Their Children and Teens About Smoking?

Abstract

Adolescent Health| September 01 1999 How Do Parents Educate Their Children and Teens About Smoking? AAP Grand Rounds (1999) 2 (3): 32. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.2-3-32 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation How Do Parents Educate Their Children and Teens About Smoking?. AAP Grand Rounds September 1999; 2 (3): 32. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.2-3-32 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All PublicationsAll JournalsAAP Grand RoundsPediatricsHospital PediatricsPediatrics In ReviewNeoReviewsAAP NewsAll AAP Sites Search Advanced Search Topics: smoking, teaching, tobacco, african american Source: Clark PI, Scarisbrick-Hauser A, Gautam SP, Wirk SJ. Anti-tobacco socialization in homes of African-American and white parents, and smoking and nonsmoking parents. J Adolesc Health. 1999;24(5):329–339. To determine the perceptions and behaviors of parents regarding teen smoking, and to assess whether these differed by race and parental smoking status, Clark et al employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. First, 5 focus groups of self-identified African-American current regular smokers (N=32) and 7 focus groups of self-identified white current regular smokers (N=38) who were parents of children and teens provided information about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices about smoking. Then, using this information, a questionnaire was developed to obtain quantitative information on parents’ perceptions and behaviors. The survey was administered by telephone to parents in a Midwestern urban area who had previously been contacted regarding a study evaluating their teens’ use of tobacco; of the 362 parents contacted, 311 responded (86% participation rate). Both focus group data and the quantitative survey demonstrated that African-American and white families differed in their approaches to tobacco use ground rules (eg, smoking not permitted for any in household, limited to adults, limited inside or outside the home) and their perceptions of the efficacy of those rules in preventing their children from smoking. While most parents set ground rules (87%) and discussed these with their children (70%), African-American families were significantly more likely than white families to report both of these behaviors: 100% vs 84% for setting ground rules (p < 0.003), and 84% vs. 66% for discussing rules (p < 0.01). Parents in households where at least one adult smoked were also more likely to report setting rules about smoking (p = 0.02). African-American parents were more likely to report feeling able to influence their teens’ use of tobacco through the use of consequences and communication (p = 0.0001). In contrast, the white families demonstrated less confidence about the usefulness of ground rules and their ability as parents to deter their teens from using tobacco, citing that peer pressure to smoke was an immutable phenomenon and “part of being a kid” or “growing up” (p = 0.01). White parents were also much more likely to report that schools were more effective than parents in communicating anti-smoking messages (32% white vs 9% African-American, p = 0.004). White parents in smoking households were more likely than African-American parents to report the belief that smoking was not an important enough issue to create conflict. African-American parents in smoking households more commonly reported that smoking was an important issue and that their own smoking behavior did not prevent them from talking to their children about not smoking. Of note is that both African-American and white focus group members reported that they did no monitoring of their tobacco supplies and made no attempt to limit their children’s or teen’s access to their supplies, citing inconvenience as the major reason for this lack of monitoring. Because the authors did not query... You do not currently have access to this content.