Parental divorce and adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use: assessing the importance of family conflict

Aim: To investigate how family conflict contributes to the relationship between parental divorce and adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Design: Population‐based cross‐sectional survey. Setting: School classrooms in Iceland in which an anonymous questionnaire was administered to respondent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta Paediatrica 2009-03, Vol.98 (3), p.537-542
Main Authors: Kristjansson, Alfgeir Logi, Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora, Allegrante, John P., Helgason, Asgeir R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescent
Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology
Alcohol use
Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning
Biological and medical sciences
Cigarette smoking
Cross-Sectional Studies
Divorce
Divorce - statistics & numerical data
Family Conflict
Female
General aspects
Humans
Iceland - epidemiology
Male
Medical sciences
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Smoking - epidemiology
Tobacco, tobacco smoking
Toxicology
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Summary:Aim: To investigate how family conflict contributes to the relationship between parental divorce and adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Design: Population‐based cross‐sectional survey. Setting: School classrooms in Iceland in which an anonymous questionnaire was administered to respondents by supervising teachers. Participants were 7430 (81.4%) of 9124 14‐ to 16‐year‐old adolescents. Main outcome measure: Cigarette smoking and alcohol use during the last 30 days were assessed by self‐report. Results: Parental divorce was related to adolescent cigarette smoking during the last 30 days (OR = 2.12, 95% CI 1.84–2.44) when controlling for gender only, but was insignificant (OR = 1.18 95%, CI 0.99–1.44) when controlling for relationship with parents, disruptive social changes and family conflict. There was a significant relationship between parental divorce and adolescent alcohol use during last 30 days (OR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.48–1.87), controlling only for gender; however, the relationship disappeared (OR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.91–1.20) when controlling for other variables. Conclusion: Family conflicts are important contributors to the relationship between parental divorce and adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Conflict between parents and adolescents, but not inter‐parental conflict, appears to be the most important factor in the relationship between family conflict and adolescent substance use.
ISSN:0803-5253
1651-2227
1651-2227
DOI:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.01133.x