Relations Between Parental Distress Intolerance, Adolescent Motives for Cigarette Use, and Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Levels

Background: A relatively large body of evidence indicates that coping motives for cigarette smoking are associated with a number of problematic outcomes (e.g., greater smoking frequency) among adolescents. Evidence also indicates that lower distress tolerance (or higher distress intolerance) is related to higher levels of coping motives for cigarette smoking among adults and adolescents. Therefore, it is critical to improve our understanding of factors that may increase the likelihood of smoking to cope among adolescents. In addition, evidence suggests that a number of parenting behaviors may affect adolescent smoking behavior. No work to date, however, has examined the relation between parental distress intolerance and adolescent smoking motives, or adolescent smoking behavior. Objective/methods: The current study involving adolescents (n = 46) and one of their parents aimed to address this gap in the literature by examining the association between parent-reported parental distress intolerance, self-reported adolescent motives for cigarette use, and self-reported adolescent cigarette smoking levels. Results: Results indicated that parental distress intolerance was related to greater adolescent coping motives for cigarette smoking, but not to other motives for adolescent cigarette use. Furthermore, results indicated that parental distress intolerance was indirectly associated with higher adolescent cigarette smoking levels through adolescent coping motives for cigarette smoking. Conclusions: Parental distress intolerance is associated with coping motives for adolescent cigarette smoking. This suggests parental emotional factors may be associated with adolescent cigarette use.