PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON ADOLESCENTS ORAL HEALTH BEHAVIOR - 2-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF THE NORWEGIAN LONGITUDINAL HEALTH BEHAVIOR STUDY PARTICIPANTS

This study explores the influences of parents' behavior and the parent -child relationship upon adolescents' smoking, oral hygiene performanc e and intake of sugared foods. In 1993 (Time 1), a representative samp le of 709 16-yr-old adolescents in Hordaland County, Norway and their parents completed questionnaires at home. A postal follow-up 2 yr late r (Time 2) provided 781 answers. The present analyses included 597 coh ort participants who responded on both occasions, and 460 mothers and 399 fathers who replied in 1993. Influence of the parent-child relatio nship was assessed in terms of two scales: parental support and parent al control of the youngsters. Multivariate regression analyses indicat ed that adolescents' oral health behaviors at Time 1, were each powerf ul predictors of their corresponding behaviors at Time 2. When the Tim e 1 parental behavior and the Time 2 parent-child relationship scales were added, mothers' oral hygiene performance and sugar intake account ed for a significant amount of the variance in the corresponding behav iors of adolescents at Time 2. Fathers' smoking and the parental contr ol scale contributed to the prediction of adolescents' Time 2 smoking. These results errand previous ones obtained from cross-sectional stud ies and give further support to the importance of including the family in prevention campaigns aimed at adolescents.