AUTHORITATIVE PARENTING, CHILD COMPETENCES, AND INITIATION OF CIGARETTE-SMOKING

School-based social influence programs to prevent adolescent smoking a re having limited success in the long term. Intervening earlier in the process of smoking onset, during the childhood years, may be required to prevent adolescent smoking. Child socialization variables, specifi cally parenting behaviors and child competencies, may be important to understanding the earliest phase of smoking onset. This study tested h ypotheses of association between authoritative parenting behaviors, en hanced child competencies, and relatively low rates of initiation of c igarette smoking. Analyzing cross-sectional survey data from 937 stude nts in Grades 3 to 8, we found general support for the study hypothese s: Authoritative parenting was positively associated with child compet encies; children's competency levels were inversely related to their r ates of smoking intention, initiation, and experimentation; authoritat ive parenting was inversely related to rates of child smoking intentio n and behaviors; and authoritative parenting and parent smoking status had independent associations with child initiation of cigarette smoki ng. These results indicate that child socialization variables merit fu rther investigation for their potential role in the development of ear ly intervention programs for smoking prevention.