Voluntary smoke-free-home rules protect children from dangerous second-hand cigarette smoke - yet more than a third of U.S. homes with a parent who smokes have no such rule, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.
Researchers used data from the 2010-2011 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey to determine parents' behavior and attitudes toward voluntary smoke-free rules. Overall, they found that 60.1 percent of U.S. households with children and at least one smoking parent had established a voluntary smoke-free rule in their home.
Support for a smoke-free-home rule was more likely to be reported by parents:
- Living in a two-parent household
- With a college education
- Who were Hispanics or non-Hispanic African Americans
- With an annual household income of $50,000 or more
- Who had infants living at home
A smoke-free environment protects children from exposure to involuntary smoke and also can reduce or prevent future smoking. Most parents surveyed thought that smoking should never be allowed inside cars when children are present, including 72.2 percent of those who did not have a smoke-free rule in their home. Only 61.3 percent of parents with no smoke-free-home rules supported smoke-free rules in outdoor children's play areas.
"Continued work is warranted to encourage the adoption of voluntary smoke-free home rules and to reduce disparities in involuntary smoke exposure and tobacco-use-related diseases among smoker households with children," the researchers suggest.