Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Objectives – Though the impact of parental smoking has been well examined, some studies found significant effect of parental smoking, whereas others found it insignificant. Whether the smoking behavior of adolescents is influenced by their parents is still debated and questioned. Skepticism regarding the accuracy of study findings on the impact of peer influences is largely related to whether parental smoking and peer smoking should be examined simultaneously and whether the endogeneity of the peer effect is addressed. It is also unclear which subpopulations are more susceptible to the influences of parents and peers. This study aims to investigate the differential effect of parental smoking and peer smoking across different subpopulations to lend support for the implementation of anti-tobacco programs.

Data and Methods – The data was sourced from Add Health Wave I conducted to students in grades 7-12 in 1994-1995. The Friends Nomination Data in In-School Questionnaire were matched with the In-Home Interview to obtain the three instruments that only affected nominated peer smoking decisions and did not have direct correlation with adolescent smoking decisions. To address the potential endogeneity of the peer effect, a 2SLS model was employed. The analysis was stratified by neighborhood per capita income, gender, and ethnicity.

Results – The regression results of the 2SLS model show that both parental smoking and peer smoking had significant impacts on adolescent smoking. Specifically, having one more friend who smoked was estimated to raise the probability of adolescent smoking by 7.18%. Having one more parent who ever smoked raised the probability of adolescent smoking by 3.49% in a two-parent household, and 6.97% in a single-parent household. Females were more likely to be influenced by parental smoking than were males. Among all races, Hispanic adolescents were more susceptible to peer smoking influences than were other races. Parental smoking had a greater impact on white and in low- and middle-income neighborhoods. Neither parental smoking nor peer smoking had significant impacts on black adolescents. Peer smoking demonstrates an inverse U-shape relation with neighborhood per capita income. In other words, the effect of the peer smoking measure was the greatest in middle-income neighborhoods. However, it did not differ significantly across neighborhoods. These findings imply that tobacco prevention programs that teach youth to resist the peer influence would have greater multiplier effect if implemented on Hispanic adolescents. Tobacco cessation programs that aim to reduce the smoking prevalence among adults would have a greater spillover effect on the next generation if implemented on female and white population and in low- and middle-income neighborhoods. The significant effects of parental and peer smoking and the high prevalence rate of smoking among white would perpetuate the smoking prevalence of white if smoking epidemic was not curbed.