Reactions to Thirdhand Smoke are Associated with Openness to Smoking in Young Never Smoking Children.

To investigate the associations between reactions to thirdhand smoke (THS) and openness to smoking in young children. In a school-based survey in Hong Kong, 4762 Chinese primary school students reported their reactions to THS (one or more of 'pleasant/happy', 'nausea', 'excited', 'heart beat faster', 'relaxed', 'dislike the smell', 'like the smell', 'dizzy', 'coughing/choking', 'eye uncomfortable' and 'none of the above'), smoking status and openness to smoking (lack of a firm intention not to smoke). Factor structure of reactions to THS was investigated with factor scores calculated and categorised. Logistic regression yielded adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of openness to smoking for reactions to THS. Factor analysis yielded two factors including 5 and 4 reactions, which were generally deemed negative and positive, respectively. The proportions of students with factor scores ≥1 for negative and positive reactions were 51.3 and 6.3 %, respectively. In never smokers, openness to smoking was negatively associated with 'dislike the smell' (AOR 0.52, 95 % CI 0.39-0.68), 'coughing/choking' (0.53, 0.38-0.75), 'eye uncomfortable' (0.62, 0.40-0.95) and negative reaction factor score of 2-5 (vs. 0) (0.59, 0.40-0.88), and was positively associated with 'pleasant/happy' (2.80, 1.54-5.09), 'excited' (2.83, 1.17-6.87), 'like the smell' (3.06, 1.49-6.26) and positive reaction factor score of 1-4 (vs. 0) (2.86, 1.83-4.48). In experimental or former smokers, fewer associations reached statistical significance. Negative and positive reactions to THS were negatively and positively associated with openness to smoking, respectively, in young never smoking children.

Family Smoking, Exposure to Secondhand Smoke at Home and Family Unhappiness in Children.

Tobacco use adversely affects many aspects of well-being and is disliked by non-smokers. However, its association with family happiness is unknown. We investigated the associations of family unhappiness with smoking in family members and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home in Hong Kong children. In a school-based survey in 2012-2013, 1238 primary school students (mean age 8.5 years, standard deviation 0.9; 42.6% boys) reported family smoking, SHS exposure at home and whether their families had any unpleasant experience caused by smoking or SHS in the past 30 days (tobacco-related unpleasant experience), and rated the overall level of happiness in their families (family unhappiness). Multivariable logistic regression was used to study the associations of tobacco-related unpleasant experience and family unhappiness with family smoking and SHS exposure at home. Tobacco-related unpleasant experience and family unhappiness were reported by 27.5% and 16.5% of students. Unpleasant experience was more strongly associated with family smoking than SHS exposure at home. Family unhappiness was associated with both family smoking (odds ratio 2.37; 95% confidence interval 1.51-3.71) and SHS exposure at home (1.82; 1.39-2.40). These results suggest a previously neglected possible impact of tobacco use on family happiness.