Smoking by a non-biological parent is as influential as smoking by biological parents in determining whether their teenager smokes, reveal the results of a Cancer Research UK study published in the journal Addiction*.
Researchers based at Cancer Research UK’s Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London, interviewed 650 teenagers from 36 schools in South London who reported living in step-families. The students were participating in a five-year ‘Health and Behaviour in Teenagers Study’ (HABITS) and were assessed annually from age 11-12 to age 15-16.
The researchers say:
“The influence of smoking by parents on whether their children smoke is well known – teenagers with one or more parent who smokes are much more likely to smoke than those with no smoking parents. But we think this is first study to examine the extent to which the smoking behaviour of step-parents predicts adolescent smoking behaviour.
“Our findings confirm the importance of social influence on whether young people start to smoke, and suggests that step-parents, as well as parents should play a role in smoking prevention.”
Filed under: parents, tobacco , Cancer Research UK
