Effects of perceived parental attitudes on children’s views of smoking

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of perceived parental attitudes on children's discernment of cigarettes. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 250 children attending grades 6, 7 and 8. Data were collected via a socio-demographic survey questionnaire, the Parental Attitude Scale (PAS) and the Decisional Balance Scale (DBS). Data analysis covered percentages, medians, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests using a statistical package. Results: There were 250 participants; 117 were male, 133 were female. The mean age was 13.1 +/- 0.98 for the females and 13.3 +/- 0.88 for the males. A statistically significant difference was found in the children's mean scores for 'pros' subscale on the Decisional Balance Scale (DBS) according to perceived parental attitudes (F=3.172, p=0.025). There were no statistically significant differences in the DBS 'cons' subscale scores by perceived parental attitudes. Conclusions: It was determined that while perceived parental attitudes affect children's views on advantages of smoking, they have no effect on children's views on its disadvantages.