Anti-smoking parenting and adolescent smoking prevention: Moderating effect of adolescent rebelliousness

Background: The rate of decline in adolescent smoking has slowed in recent years. Family-based prevention programs have potential for preventing smoking initiation. However, there are several complexities, including adolescent personality characteristics, which may limit their success. In this study we tested whether adolescent rebelliousness moderated the effect of parental punishment for smoking on prospectively predicting initiation of smoking.

Methods: Participants were a subsample of 719 adolescent/parent pairs from a larger longitudinal study with two sessions, 18 months apart. Only adolescents who reported never smoking at baseline were selected (mean age=13; 48% female). Logistic regression predicted smoking initiation at follow-up from baseline covariates (age, sex, family structure, and parent education), baseline predictors (parent smoking, adolescent report of parental punishment for smoking, and parent report of adolescent rebelliousness), and all interactions among the predictors.

Results: Older adolescents, those from non-intact families, and those who were more rebellious were significantly more likely to initiate smoking 18 months later. Moreover, a significant interaction indicated that the effect of parental punishment for smoking on smoking initiation varied with levels of adolescent rebelliousness. For the least rebellious adolescents, punishment was significantly associated with not initiating smoking. However, as rebelliousness increased, punishment became less useful for preventing smoking initiation.

Conclusions: Anti-smoking parenting practices can be important contributors to adolescent smoking and are potential targets for intervention through family-based prevention programs. However, the processes underlying these influences are complex, and intervention strategies need to consider factors such as adolescent personality characteristics.