The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #41612

Cassandra A Stanton, PhD¹, George Papandonatos, PhD², Elizabeth Lloyd-Richardson, PhD¹, Alessandra Kazura, MD¹, Shang-Ying Shiu, MS², and Raymond Niaura, PhD¹. (1) Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Brown Medical School and The Miriam Hospital, Coro Building, Suite 5000, One Hoppin Street, Providence, RI 02903, 401/793-8193, cstanton@lifespan.org, (2) Center for Statistical Sciences, Brown Medical School, 167 Angell St., Providence, RI 02912

Adolescent smoking is commonly conceptualized as progressing through a sequence of developmental stages characterized by different levels of frequency and intensity. Parent and friend influences may differentially promote or deter smoking at different stages. Our understanding of these factors and how they interact with each other and with demographic factors, such as gender, to impact stages of smoking uptake in youth is limited. Drawing from national (Add Health) data, a partial proportional odds ordinal regression model was utilized to examine the multivariate influence of parent and friend variables and their interactions on transitions across smoking stages (Never Smokers, Experimenters, Intermittent, Regular/Established) separately for mother-child pairs (N=15,983) and father-child pairs (N=1,142). Youth ranged in age from 13 to 19 years (median age of 16 years). Results indicated differential effects across smoking stages. Adolescent demographic variables, such as race and age, discriminated regular/established smokers from never, experimental and intermittent smokers. Friend smoking was by far the strongest predictor across smoking stages, with females who do not have friends who smoke protected against higher smoking stages relative to males. While both father and mother smoking status were risk factors across smoking stage contrasts, the nature of the relationship between parenting practices and teen smoking was moderated by child gender and the smoking status of the mother. Results have implications for the design of prevention programs that target female and male teens at early stages of smoking and include a family component to enhance parenting skills to protect youth from smoking uptake.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Recognize the complex interplay of mother/father smoking status, parenting practices, friend smoking and gender differences on the etiology and progression of adolescent smoking.
• Compare indicators of various transitions between smoking stages.
• Discuss future directions regarding the timing and content of effective stage-matched prevention and intervention programs to reduce smoking uptake in youth.

Keywords: Smoking, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.