Women's perceived and partners' reported support for smoking cessation during pregnancy

Studies of the influence of social support on successful smoking cessation have been based on the smoker's perceptions only. In this pilot study of 58 couples, pregnant women who had smoked in the 30 days before pregnancy and their partners reported the positive and negative support or cessation they had received (women) or provided (partners). Mean levels of the women's and partners' perceptions of support were compared, and correlations of the two reports were analyzed while controlling for the effect of the couple's smoking status. Women's and partners' reports were similar except partners reported wanting the women to stop smoking more than women perceived. Women's and partners perceived negative support were moderately correlated (r congruent to .48, p congruent to .001). Partner-reported positive support also was associated with women's perceived negative support (r congruent to .30, p congruent to .03). These relationships remained significant after controlling for partners' and women's smoking status. Generally, partners reported giving more positive and less negative support than women perceived. Results suggest the need for further examination of couples' perceptions of support and the impact on smoking cessation during pregnancy.