ABSTRACT
This chapter presents findings from the Sussex and London studies of adolescent smoking. The issues considered are the structure and nature of families, smoking in the family and adolescent smoking, as well as family smoking and adolescent smoking uptake. The London study also showed that the nature of family structure appears to influence adolescent smoking behaviour, and specifically that the quality of parent-child relationships is critical. The divorce-group children were more anxious, guilt-ridden and apathetic than were children from two-parent families. Various immature, ineffective and negative reactions in social behaviour with other children such as dependency, attention-seeking and aggressiveness were also typical of the divorce-group children. The nature of the relationships and degree of communication between parents and children is important in adolescent smoking behaviour. The major discrepancies between children's and parents' perceptions of the talk within the family related to smoking, drinking, drug use, sex and relationships.
