Smoking Habits Pass from Mother to Daughter and from Father to Son

A new research carried out by a researcher at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC), in Spain, concluded that daughters will follow the smoking habits of their mother, while sons will walk in their father's shoes.

“Fathers transmit their smoking habits to a statistically significant level to their sons, and the same is true of mothers and daughters,” Maria Loureiro, the lead researcher and co-author of the study, told SINC.

“However, if a mother smokes it does not seem to impact on the probability of her son smoking, and similarly a father that smokes does not affect his daughter,” she added.

The database considered for this study is drawn form the British Household Panel Survey, from 1994 to 2002.

The study itself was conducted in households where both parents were present, or where a single parent, mainly mothers, lived.

“We selected this data source because it gives detailed information on the products consumed in households, including tobacco, making it possible to analyze the transmission of smoking habits between generations,” explained the experts.

“The results obtained show that, in terms of smoking habits, after taking socio-economic variables, tobacco price and the location of the households into account, daughters tend to imitate their mothers, while sons imitate their fathers.”

In a home where both parents smoke, the estimated probabilities of a son smoking are of 24%, but if neither of the parents smoke, the figures decrease to 12%.

As for daughters, if both parents smoke, the chances of smoking reach 23% and also fall to 12% if neither of the parents smoke.

In the case of single-parent households, mothers transmit their smoking habits to their children, regardless of their gender, a son's likelihood of smoking if the mother smokes being of 32%, and 28% for a daughter.

“These results have clear importance in terms of designing public policies to combat smoking.

“Policies that are successful in reducing smoking habits among parents will also affect their children.

“Anti-smoking policies for young people need to be put in place that will also include the family and social context in which they live,” concludes Loureiro.

This research has been published in the journal Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics.