Association of Adolescent Smoking with Maternal Smoking

Objective: To determine the effect of family smoking habits on adolescent smoking experience for information for anti-smoking strategies. Subjects and Methods: We analyzed data from 4776 junior high school students and 5047 high school students responding to the “Survey on Prevention of Life-Style Related Diseases of Children” conducted in Nara Prefecture of Japan in 2004. The chi-square test determined the odds ratios (ORs) for smoking experience rates of the two groups of students according to the smoking habits of their fathers, mothers, older brothers, and older sisters. Logistic regression analysis was also performed for smoking experience according to school year, sex, and family smoking habit. Results: The OR for smoking in junior high school students with a father as the only smoking family member against all other cases was 0.60, and the OR with a mother as the only smoking family member was 2.50. The OR with a smoking father against cases with no smoking family members was 1.23, and the OR with a smoking mother against cases with no smoking family members was 3.50. The OR for smoking in high school students with a father as the only smoking family member against all other cases was 0.76, and the OR with a mother as the only smoking family member was 2.66. The OR with a smoking father against cases with no smoking family members was 1.59, and the OR with a smoking mother against cases with no smoking family member was 3.26. All these ORs showed significance. Conclusion: Maternal smoking was associated with a particularly high risk of smoking experience in junior high and high school students. Prevention of maternal smoking should be given high priority to reduce smoking rates in adolescents.