Parental Anti-Smoking Encouragement as a Longitudinal Predictor of Young Adult Cigarette and E-cigarette Use in a US National Study

Introduction: Young adulthood is a critical period for the adoption of risk behaviors like tobacco use. Protective factors in adolescence may promote a tobacco-free transition to young adulthood. We examine associations between the frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement in adolescence and cigarette and e-cigarette use in young adulthood. Aims and Methods: We analyzed data from Waves 1 (2009-2010, 10th grade, mean age = 16.2 years) and 5 (2013-2014 mean age = 20.3 years) of the US nationally representative NEXT Generation Health Study (n = 1718). At Wave 1, participants reported how often their parents or guardians encourage them to not smoke cigarettes (1 = Rarely or Never, 7 = Frequently). We used separate weighted multiple logistic regression models to model Wave 5 past 30-day cigarette and e-cigarette use as functions of the frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement at Wave 1, adjusting for sociodemographic and parenting factors, initial substance use, and peer tobacco use. Results: The average frequency of parental encouragement to not smoke cigarettes was fairly high (mean = 5.35). At Wave 5, 24.7% and 14.2% of respondents reported cigarette and e-cigarette use in the past 30 days, respectively. Greater frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement was associated with lower odds of subsequent cigarette smoking (adjusted odds ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.83, 0.99) but its association with e-cigarette use was not significant (adjusted odds ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.84, 1.04). Conclusions: The longitudinal negative association between anti-smoking encouragement and cigarette use suggests that parental anti-tobacco communication could be a long-term protective factor against young adult tobacco use. Our findings may also suggest the importance of product-specific messages in the evolving tobacco use landscape.

Automated summary

The frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement in adolescence is negatively associated with cigarette use in young adulthood, suggesting it as a long-term protective factor against tobacco use. However, the association with e-cigarette use is not significant.