Mother-daughter communication: A protective factor for nonsmoking

Rural adolescent females living in tobacco-producing regions are at-risk for smoking initiation at rates equal to those of boys, and girls are at increased risk for smoking related diseases, reproductive, and pregnancy problems. We know that tobacco use is a risky behavior occurring at differing rates in ethnically diverse groups of adolescents; is determined by multiple factors; and, that the highest levels of tobacco use are reported among rural youth and those living in the south. Nicotine dependence has been shown to develop in youth within months of trying smoking. It is critical to improve our understanding of the complex decision-making process related to avoidance of smoking if we are going to intervene effectively with at-risk adolescent populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate family communication as a protective factor related to nonsmoking in African American (AA) and Caucasian female adolescents residing in rural, tobacco producing counties in a southern state. Data were collected from 18 adolescent female nonsmokers 16 and 17 years of age and from 10 mothers using a semi-structured protocol and group interview method. Interviews with four separate groups of African American and Caucasian female adolescents, who never tried smoking or had experimented with smoking, and with two separate groups of African American and Caucasian mothers, were tape-recorded, transcribed, analyzed, and coded for themes. Cross-cutting themes emerging as protective factors from the youth and parent group interviews were: frequent and open communication about smoking, mothers' intentionality in messages about nonsmoking, mothers' clear testimony about the dangers and risks of smoking, a repeated pattern of oversight of daughter's activities and friends, mothers' pride in their daughters, a close knit family of support, and daughter's explicit desire not to disappoint their parents. Despite the prevalence of smoking in rural tobacco-producing counties, female adolescents and their mothers identified mother-daughter communication as a protective factor. Directions for research include further examination of the nature and type of female adolescents' communication with parents, a parallel study of protective factors of rural male adolescent nonsmokers and non-users of smokeless tobacco, and designing and testing parent-child communication interventions for tobacco prevention.