Parent-Child Relationship and Smoking Among College Students: Role of Parents in Females’ and Males’ Smoking Behavior

Abstract

Objective: Youth smoking has long been a major concern at individual, familial, and national\rlevels. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of parent-child relationship\rin the smoking behavior and smoking intensity among college students. We also aimed to\rinvestigate gender-specific variations in the association between mother-child and father-child\rrelationships and smoking behavior and its intensity among female and male college students.\rMethods: The sample consisted of college students (N=242: 142 smokers, 99 nonsmokers)\rwho were selected using snowball sampling method among the students of Guilan University.\rParticipants completed the parent-child relationship survey and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine\rDependence. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions were used for analyzing.\rResults: Results showed that mother-child relationship, but not father-child relationship, was\rthe significant predictor of smoking status. Also, mother-child relationship could predict low\rto moderate levels of dependence on nicotine. Finally, among male students, mother-child\rrelationship was the significant predictor of smoking. Neither mother-child nor father-child\rrelationships were the significant predictors of smoking status among female students.\rConclusion: Further research is needed to clear our understanding of gender-specific correlates\rof smoking among youth.