Influence of parental smoking on junior high school students' perceptions of smoking / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

ABSTRACT

<b>Introduction</b> This study aimed to clarify any associations between familial smoking, especially parental smoking, and high school students' perceptions of smoking.<br><b>Methods</b> Questionnaires on familial smoking and the Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND) were distributed to junior high school students. The KTSND is a tool to evaluate positive perceptions of smoking. We analyzed the relationship between the total KTSND score and school grade, gender, familial smoking, paternal smoking, and maternal smoking.<br><b>Results</b> We received 761 valid responses (valid response rate 90.4%). Five hundred forty-three students had family members who smoked (71.4%), 394 had smoking fathers (51.8%), and 214, smoking mothers (28.1%). The total KTSND score correlated with familial smoking (10.55 vs 9.46, <italic>p</italic>=0.009) and maternal smoking (11.18 vs 9.87, <italic>p</italic>=0.002).<br><b>Conclusion</b> Familial smoking, especially maternal smoking, correlated with positive perceptions of high school students towards smoking. Promoting smoking cessation in women with children may be effective in preventing tobacco use among children.