Exploring the intergenerational persistence of health behaviour: an empirical study of smoking from China

Abstract

BackgroundIt is of significance to look into the intergenerational transmission of risk behaviour to explain the disparity of health. Our paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence in the context of China, focusing on smoking behaviour.MethodsThis paper studies the intergenerational transmission of smoking in the context of China using a nationally representative dataset – the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The two-part model, the Tobit model, and the fixed effects model are utilized for the empirical analysis, respectively.ResultsWe found a strong intergenerational persistence of health behaviour. That is, parents’ smoking behaviour is positively correlated with their children’s smoking initiation.ConclusionsOur study provides evidence of the intergenerational persistence of health behaviour in the case of smoking, in the world’s most populous country. This has policy implications for the issue of intergenerational mobility and health education, as well as for tobacco control in China.

Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Risky Health Behaviors in Chinese Children: Are There Socioeconomic Differences?

“…There were also differences between paternal in uence and maternal in uence. We found father's smoking behavior had a greater signi cant effect on leading children's smoking behavior than the mother's, contrary to many previous studies [14,15,18,19]. This may be because, compared with previous studies, the sample size of maternal smoking in this study was too small to make good statistical inferences.…”

“…The present study showed that consistent with many previous ndings [14-19, 21, 23-25], parental risky health behaviors could be signi cantly transmitted to their children. Children are usually easy to imitate their parents' behavior, even if it is negative and unhealthy [14,29,30]. So, parents' words and deeds are very important to prevent children's risky health behavior.…”

“…Family is a major environment for children's behavior formation. For one thing, as children's rst teachers and socializing agents, parents' negative health behaviors would set a false model for their children [14]. In addition to the model effect, parental socioeconomic status (SES) variables, including educational attainment, income, and occupational status, together with the parenting styles, constitute the home environment in which children's behaviors are embedded [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Relation between Smoking Habits and Self-Rated Health of Older Persons in the Philippines: Evidence-Based Tobacco Policy Advocacy

“…There are number of studies regarding the effects of tobacco on those countries. Jay found a co-relationship between parent's smoking and child smoking in China (Jay, 2017). Ikeda clarified that tobacco smoking and high blood pressure were two major risk factors for adult mortality in Japan (Ikeda, 2012).…”

Assessing factors influencing smoking and smoking cessation within Chinese communities in the Greater Vancouver Area: A qualitative exploratory study

“…Next, as focus groups were held with multiple individuals, social desirability biases may have influenced the participants' responses. Although data were captured from 2013-2014, this study's findings are likely still applicable to the target population in 2020, as health and smoking behaviours, which are influenced by culturally rooted factors, have been found to be intergenerationally persistent among Chinese smokers 15,40 . Additionally, more recent studies have identified similar culturally ingrained beliefs about smoking practice and cessation among Chinese-Canadian immigrant groups 16,21 , as well as other Chinese immigrant groups 17,41 .…”