Discussion
This study demonstrates that family factors matter in
predicting the onset of daily smoking in adolescence. In this
sample, they mattered early in adolescence, at age 14–15,
and continued in importance as a predictor of daily smoking
initiation throughout adolescence. Only bonding to parents
declined in significance as a predictor in late adolescence.
Social development theory suggests that family factors
play an important role in the initiation and escalation of
smoking in adolescence. Few studies have examined the
role of family processes on the onset of daily smoking. This
study identified several important family influences on adolescent
daily smoking initiation, including family poverty,
parental smoking, family monitoring and rules, and family
bonding. Family influences on adolescent cigarette smoking
were mostly through the direct effects of family poverty,
parent smoking, and family processes (especially family
monitoring and family bonding). These findings support the
notion that family influences are important not only in
affecting experimentation with cigarette smoking but also in
affecting higher stages of smoking such as daily smoking
[4]. Furthermore, results from this study indicate that most
family influences on the risk of daily smoking initiation do
not decline through late adolescence with the exception of
family bonding, which was more influential during early
years of high school, but less so after age 18. In general,
preventive efforts to reduce daily smoking initiation should
target family factors throughout adolescence to young adulthood.