Parental Socioeconomic Status and Teenage Smoking Rates: What's the Link?

In what way is parental socioeconomic status associated with nicotine dependence in children?

This is the question a new study conducted in Norway aimed to find out. The study measured parental socioeconomic status by looking at their level of education. It found that youth with parents who had lower levels of education were 2.5 times more likely to smoke daily than teens with better educated parents. The direct link between parental education and smoking prevalence in their teenage offspring was mediated by several factors, including school conduct, grades, desire to quit school and drop-out levels.

Overall, the study concluded that low parental education is a good predictor of smoking habits among their teenage offspring. The effect, however, is indirect. Parents with low education, for example, are more likely to bear children who later have problems at school and subsequently drop out. Schooling problems, in turn, increase susceptibility to smoking on a daily basis.

Parenting classes and early education initiatives, the study recommends, may disrupt this cycle. The authors also recommend that in the future more stop-smoking indicatives ought to be orientated towards the teens of parents with high levels of education.

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