Parenting styles as a tobacco-use protective factor among Brazilian adolescents

The objective was to evaluate the relationship between tobacco use (previous month and frequent use), parenting styles and parental smoking behavior in a sample of high school students. Participants were recruited from public and private high schools from 27 Brazilian state capitals (N=17,246). The overall prevalence of tobacco use in life was 25.2%; 15.3% in the previous year; 8.6% in the previous month; and 3.2% for frequent use. Tobacco use by the parents was reported by 28.6% of the students. Regarding parenting styles, 39.2% were classified as negligent, 33.3% authoritative, 15.6% as indulgent and 11.9% authoritarian. Compared to adolescents with authoritative parents, those with negligent or indulgent parents were more prone to report tobacco use during the last month or frequent use. This study showed an association between parenting styles and tobacco use by high school students. Authoritative parents were associated with protection from frequent and previous month tobacco use among adolescents.