Bin Xie, MD¹, Chih-Ping Chou, PhD², Paula H. Palmer, PhD², Ping Sun, PhD², Peggy E. Gallaher, PhD³, Qian Guo, MD³, and Carl Anderson Johnson, PhD⁴. (1) Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1000 S. Fremont Ave. Unit # 8, Alhambra, CA 91803, (626)457-6604, bxie@hsc.usc.edu, (2) Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, University of Southern California, 1000 S. Fremont Avenue, Unit 8, Alhambra, CA 91803, (3) Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1000 S. Fremont Ave. Box 8, Alhambra, CA 91803, (4) Preventive Medicine - Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, University of Southern California - Keck School of Medicine, 1000 South Fremont Avenue, Unit 8, Alhambra, CA 91803

Parental smoking has been associated with adoption of unhealthy behaviors in children and adolescents in Western society. Little is known about this relation in Asian populations. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of parental smoking on patterns of vegetable, fruit, meat, milk and sweets consumption, time spent watching television, engagement in vigorous physical activity, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking in Chinese adolescents. Complete survey data of 12,364 Chinese adolescents aged 11 to 18 years and their parents were retrieved from the on-going China Seven-City Study (CSCS), which is a long-term follow-up health promotion and smoking prevention study conducted in seven geographically different cities in Mainland China. Parental smoking status was defined as never smokers (lifetime never smoking), ex-smokers (ever smoking but not in the past month), current smokers (smoking less than 20 cigarettes/day in the past month) and current heavy smokers (smoking 20 cigarettes/day or more in the past month). Patterns of adolescents~{!/~} health behaviors were compared across parental smoking status using General Linear Modeling. After controlling for age, gender, parental educational attainment and family income levels, adolescents whose parents were heavy smokers consumed significantly less vegetables and fruits, significantly more meats and sweets, spent significantly more time watching television, and were more likely to engage in cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking than those with never smoking and/or ex-smoking parents (p<0.05). The finding suggests the important influence of parental smoking on adolescents~{!/~} behavioral choices in the Chinese population, which underscore the need for tobacco control interventions.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, the learners in this session will have a better understanding of the impact of parental smoking on behavioral profiles.

Keywords: Smoking, Adolescents, International

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: USC TTURC
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.