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Children's resistance to parents' smoking in the home and car: a qualitative study
Author(s) -
RowaDewar Neneh,
Amos Amanda,
CunninghamBurley Sarah
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.12435
Subject(s) - focus group , psychology , covert , friendship , developmental psychology , disadvantaged , resistance (ecology) , qualitative research , sibling , social psychology , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , social science , sociology , political science , law , biology , marketing , business
Background and Aims Reducing second‐hand smoke exposure in the home is a key tobacco control goal, yet few studies have explored children's views and experiences of this. This study aimed to explore children's accounts of family members' smoking in the home and car and the impact of their socio‐economic circumstances. Design Individual and friendship group interviews using topic guides and visual stimulus methods.Setting Two communities in E dinburgh, S cotland, one socio‐economically advantaged, one socio‐economically disadvantaged. Participants Thirty‐eight children aged 10–15 years who had a close family member who smoked. Measurements Focus group and interview topic guides. Findings Participants in both communities expressed a strong dislike of family members' smoking and concern about the potential impact on the smoker's health. Participants described overt and covert acts of resistance, including challenging relatives about their smoking, expressing disgust and concern, hiding or destroying cigarettes. Some acts were carried out in collusion with a non‐smoking parent and/or sibling. Resistant acts were constrained by expectations of negative responses, which appeared to increase with age, wider social norms around smoking and whether or not the young person smoked. Conclusions Some children and young people in the U nited K ingdom, irrespective of socio‐economic status, may actively oppose parents' smoking in the home and car, although their influence may be limited by their position in the family and social norms.