Maternal action and ethnicity in the prevention of adolescent smoking in south eastern Sydney

Parents have a significant role in the prevention of smoking among their ch ildren, yet there is scarce research into what parents actually do to encou rage non-smoking, This paper examines the actions that a sample of mothers of grades 7 and 8 students in southern Sydney have taken with regard to smo king prevention and the factors associated with taking action. Data were co llected from 1113 mothers through a self-completed questionnaire sent home and returned by students. About four out of five mothers had had an open di scussion about the importance of not smoking and 28% had enforced non-smoki ng rules. Non-smoking mothers, mothers with a more positive attitude toward s their role in preventing their child from smoking and mothers who were wo rried about their child smoking were more likely to have enforced rules. Af ter adjusting for maternal smoking, level of worry about their child smokin g and attitude towards smoking, mothers speaking a language other than Engl ish at home were significantly less likely to have discussed not smoking, b ut tended to have enforced non-smoking rules. When an associated study of t he children of these mothers is considered, where students speaking a langu age other than English at home smoked less than those speaking English, it suggests that enforcing non-smoking rules is an effective strategy for at l east delaying smoking among grades 7 and 8 students.