Associations between Parental Factors and Longitudinal Patterns of Adolescent Smoking Escalation

The current project examined the effects of parent smoking, general parenting (monitoring, support), and parental antismoking socialization (reactions, messages) on longitudinal patterns of adolescent smoking. We predicted that antismoking socialization mediates the relationship between parent smoking and adolescent smoking, and that general parenting moderates the relationship between antismoking socialization and adolescent smoking. Participants were 970 adolescents (mean age = 15.6) oversampled at baseline for previous smoking. Parent smoking, monitoring, support, messages, and reactions were assessed at baseline. To determine longitudinal smoking patterns, adolescent smoking was assessed at multiple points through 24 months. Of the 970 adolescents in the sample, 25.3% were nonsmokers, 38.5% were infrequent nonescalating smokers, and 36.2% were escalating smokers. A series of logistic regressions examined our hypotheses for ever-smokers (escalators, nonescalators) versus never-smokers and escalating versus nonescalating smokers. Though we did not find support for the meditational role of antismoking socialization in the relationship between parental smoking and adolescent smoking, there were significant univariate relationships among all of the proposed maternal variables. Tests of moderation confirmed that parental antismoking reactions were more protective against adolescent ever smoking at high levels of parental support than at low levels. Although parental support and antismoking reactions protected against adolescent smoking escalation, parenting style did not interact with these factors. Notably, antismoking messages were not related to adolescent ever smoking or smoking escalation. Our findings suggest that while parental support, antismoking reactions, and monitoring are protective against adolescent smoking, the effects may vary based on parental and adolescent smoking status.