Parents and adolescent smoking

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Abstract
Using data on 1,281 15–16 year olds drawn from the 1994 Welsh Youth Health Survey, the relationship between adolescent smoking and six dimensions of family life was examined. The findings support previous research which shows that parental example can be an important factor in shaping a child's smoking behaviour. In addition, they suggest that coming from a caring family may be a protective factor against adolescent smoking, particularly for girls. There was an unexpectedly weak association between ease of communication with parents and young people's smoking behaviour, and no differences in smoking prevalence were found between adolescents from non-manual and manual families or from one and two parent families. The implications of these findings for further action on smoking and the young are discussed.