A survey of more than 8,100 middle-school aged students in the Indianapolis Public Schools shows that children residing with smokers are three times as likely to be smokers themselves and those who are smoking are four times as likely to say they started because family members light up. About two-thirds of survey participants said they live in homes with adults or other youths who smoke.

The study appears in this month’s issue of the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, an England-based publication.

"Living in a home with others who smoke has a significant impact on a child’s smoking behavior," said lead investigator Terrell Zollinger, professor in the IU Department of Family Medicine. "Parents and older siblings need to understand that their behavior and anti-tobacco messages definitely impact children’s decisions."

Parents–particularly mothers–who give clear anti-smoking messages to their children appear to exert a significant deterrent to children experimenting with tobacco use and becoming regular users. Disapproval of smoking by parents and other family members can reduce peer influences on children’s decisions.

The study also revealed that white children (78 percent) were much more likely to be in homes with smokers than their African-American counterparts (54 percent).

Non-smoking kids living in non-smoking households were five times as likely to say the reason they don’t smoke is because their families and friends are not users. Among the study’s other findings:

• Smoking children from non-smoking households more often indicate their parents were unaware that they are smoking

• Non-smoking children from non-smoking households were only a third as likely to say they would try smoking in the next year

• Children from non-smoking households were more concerned about the health effects of their families’ and friends’ smoking

• Youngsters in smoking households were less likely to believe that smoking causes ill health

IU investigators point out that study participants are inner-city children and that their responses might be markedly different from suburban and rural children. However, parents and influential adults still can make a difference.

"Children in middle school, 12- to 14-years-old, are still susceptible to home influences," Zollinger said. "As they become older adolescents, they may become less open to the messages they get at home. The bottom line is that parents need to have the skills to effectively communicate anti-smoking values to their children–and they need to be encouraged to take responsibility for giving those messages."

Other IU study investigators included Robert Saywell Jr.; Carolyn Muegge ; Lora Bogda; Sandra Cummings; and J. Scott Wooldridge; and Sandra Cummings of the Marion County Health Department.