SELECTED PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS RELATED TO MATERNAL SMOKING BEHAVIOR (SMOKING).
Contributors: Temple University.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 104
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Public Health.
Description: Forty mothers who quit smoking during the year preceding the birth of a child (defined as quitters) were compared with 40 mothers who continued to smoke during and following this event (defined as smokers) in terms of the mother's perceived susceptibility to health problems caused by smoking, the mother's perception of her infant's health problems because of her smoking in the infant' environment, the mother's self-efficacy rating for smoking abstinence, and the mother's perceived stressful life events. The means of these principal independent variables were compared by use of Student's t-test.

Results showed that quitters had higher levels of perceived vulnerability to health problems from smoking for themselves than did smokers (p $<$ 0.02). Quitters also had higher levels of perceived vulnerability to health problems for their infants resulting from passive inhalation of cigarette smoke (p $<$ 0.001). Interestingly, both sets of mothers perceived their infants to be more vulnerable to health problems due to passive inhalation of cigarette smoke than they perceived themselves to be, due to their own active smoking. Quitters also had significantly higher self-efficacy scores for smoking abstinence than did smokers (p $<$ 0.001). Smokers did not differ from quitters with respect to self-reported stress level based on her recent life events during the year prior to the infant's birth. In addition, quitters had a significantly lower percentage of friends who were smokers than did the smokers (p $<$ 0.001), and quitters smoked significantly fewer cigarettes per day prior to the pregnancy than did the smokers (p $<$ 0.001).

The results of the study suggest that self-efficacy is a significant factor in determining the decision of women to quit smoking for the health of their infant. Moreover the results suggest that the mother's decision may be influenced by health beliefs of vulnerability and self-efficacy than any stress resulting from recent life events.

This study appears to have implications for educational and mass media campaigns aimed at decreasing the number of new and current female smokers, individuals who are engaged in self-initiated smoking cessation efforts, and members of the health education and health care professions who provide services to females.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0813.

Thesis (PH.D.)--TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, 1991.

School code: 0225.