Smoking habits transmit from mom to daughter, dad to son

The research is based on information from the British Household Panel Survey 1994-2002, the journal Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics reports.

"We selected this data source because it gives detailed information on the products consumed in households, including tobacco, making it possible to analyse the transmission of smoking habits between generations," said María Loureiro.

Loureiro is a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), in Spain, and study co-author.

The study was carried out in homes where both parents were present as well as in single parent households, which were primarily headed by mothers, according to a USC statement.
"The results obtained show that, in terms of smoking habits, after taking socio-economic variables into account, daughters tend to imitate their mothers, while sons imitate their fathers," says Loureiro.

The estimated probabilities of a son smoking if both parents smoke is 24 percent, while for daughters it is 23 percent, but this falls to almost 12 percent for both sons and daughters if neither of the parents smokes.

In single-parent households, mothers transmit their smoking habits to their children - regardless of their gender. In this case, a son's likelihood of smoking if the mother smokes is 32 percent, and daughter's 28 percent.