Study: Setting Tobacco-free Household Standard Likely More Effective Than Talking to Youth About Tobacco Use

Setting expectations for a tobacco-free home appears to be more effective at preventing youth tobacco initiation than parents advising children not to use tobacco, a new study has found. The study, “Parental Awareness of Youth Tobacco Use and the Role of Household Tobacco Rules in Use Prevention” will be published in the November 2020 Pediatrics (published online Oct. 5). The University of California San Francisco study assessed parental knowledge/suspicion of their children’s tobacco use and associations of household tobacco-free rules with youth smoking. Participants were ages 12-17 from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, a nationally representative household survey. Parents and guardians much less often knew or suspected that their children used tobacco if youth used only e-cigarettes, non-cigarette combustible products, or smokeless tobacco compared to smoking cigarettes, the study found. Youth tobacco initiation was lower when youth and parents agreed that rules prohibited all tobacco use in the home but not necessarily when parents talked with youth about tobacco. With increasing public health concerns about non-cigarette tobacco products, parents’ roles in youth tobacco prevention remain critical, the authors concluded.

###

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.