Parental Perceptions of Children’s Exposure to Tobacco Smoke and Parental Smoking Behaviour

Abstract

Around 40% of children are exposed to tobacco smoke, increasing their risk of poor health. Previous research has demonstrated misunderstanding among smoking parents regarding children’s exposure. The parental perceptions of exposure (PPE) measure uses visual and textual vignettes to assess awareness of exposure to smoke. The study aimed to determine whether PPE is related to biochemical and reported measures of exposure in children with smoking parents. Families with at least one smoking parent and a child ≤ age 8 were recruited. In total, 82 parents completed the PPE questionnaire, which was assessed on a scale of 1–7 with higher scores denoting a broader perception of exposure. Parents provided a sample of their child’s hair and a self-report of parental smoking habits. Parents who reported smoking away from home had higher PPE ratings than parents who smoke in and around the home (p = 0.026), constituting a medium effect size. PPE corresponded with home smoking frequency, with rare or no home exposure associated with higher PPE scores compared to daily or weekly exposure (p < 0.001). PPE was not significantly related to hair nicotine but was a significant explanatory factor for home smoking location. PPE was significantly associated with parental smoking behaviour, including location and frequency. High PPE was associated with lower exposure according to parental report. This implies that parental understanding of exposure affects protective behaviour and constitutes a potential target for intervention to help protect children.

Factors Related to a Smoke-free Home Status: A Parental Report

“…Statistically significant factors were as follows: the number of smokers in the house, perception about the harm of SHS likely to ban smoking in the home than those who did not agree. This result is similar to a study that reported parents who have a high perception of parental risk concerning SHS exposure tended to refrain from smoking in the home (Myers et al, 2020).…”

Parental Health Risk Perceptions and Preventive Measures on Children’s Exposure to Secondhand Smoke (SHS) of Tobacco Cigarette in Malaysia: A Nationwide Study

“…Negative parental risk perception also seen in parents allowed household smoking with open window. Similar study showed that parents who allowed household smoking and parents themselves smoking inside the house were found associated with lower parental perception exposure of SHS in children than those smoke strictly outside the house (9). Research showed that up to 52% of the smoker parents reported not believing or not aware about SHS-related adverse health effects in children (23).…”

“…Parents who with higher risk perception of SHS exposure to children's health are those who being more protective and practicing smoked away from home. Russian parents showing lower risk perceptions less than parents of other origins (9). In Malaysia, adolescent who were Malays and descendants of natives of Sabah and Sarawak were more likely to expose to SHS than those with the Chinese and Indian parents (10).…”

“…The distribution of ethnicities in Malaysia is comprised of approximately 69% Bumiputera (Malays, Indigenous people including Orang Asli, Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputera), 23% Chinese, 6.9% Indians, and 1.0% others ethnicity in year 2018. The actual risk perception among parent could be lowered because there was less than 7% of the parents recruited were smokers and this rate was less than the prevalence of smokers (25%) reported at national level (9). and smoker parents ranged from 44.3 to 67% between year 2011 and 2013 (13,21).…”

“…Socio-demographic characteristic including parental smoking behaviour, ethnicity and children' age were found associated with parental risk perception of SHS exposure to children (7,9). Parents who with higher risk perception of SHS exposure to children's health are those who being more protective and practicing smoked away from home.…”