A longitudinal study of the influence of parents and friends on children's initiation of smoking

Abstract

The results of some cross-sectional studies have indicated that the influence of parents on their offspring's initiation of smoking may or may not decrease in adolescence, but that the influence of peers increases during adolescence. Results of a short-term longitudinal study provide evidence of a strong effect for parents and friends in childhood and adolescence. Arguments about the mechanism for this association are often expressed in terms of modeling behavior. The present study, which follows change in the smoking behavior of a large cohort of children through childhood and adolescence, led to the conclusion that friends have as early an influence as parents in terms of nonsmoking behavior. However, friends who smoke but not parents who smoke had an influence on children's initiation of smoking. Furthermore, children tended not to be influenced to desist from smoking by parents who were ex-smokers. There was little evidence to support the general view that children model or are motivated directly by parental behavior. © 1992.