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Authors & Affiliations
Ashley Merianos, Laura Nabors, Kayleigh Gregory, Madelyn Hill, E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens
Abstract
The study objective was to assess the associations between home tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) status and family resilience scores among U.S. school-aged children. We used 2020-2021 National Survey of Children’s Health data including 25,967 children ages 6-11 years. Home TSE status was defined as no home TSE or not living with a smoker, home thirdhand smoke (THS) exposure only or living with a smoker who did not smoke indoors, and home secondhand smoke (SHS) and THS exposure or living with a smoker who smoked indoors. Family resilience, a protective factor for mental health problems, was a composite measure including four items about whether the family demonstrated resilience during difficult times. Multinomial regression analyses were conducted while adjusting for child age, child sex, child race/ethnicity, family structure, and federal poverty level. About 12% of 6-11-year-olds had home THS exposure only and 1.8% had home SHS and THS exposure. Compared to children with high family resilience, children with home THS exposure only were at 1.86 times higher odds (95%CI=1.36-2.54) of having low family resilience and 1.45 times higher odds (95%CI=1.10-1.90) of having moderate family resilience, after covariate adjustment. Children with home SHS and THS exposure were at 2.11 times higher odds (95%CI=1.20-3.71) of having low family resilience. School-aged children who lived with a smoker were at increased likelihood of having low family resilience. Home SHS and THS exposure may impact family resilience among children. Reducing TSE via the adoption of voluntary smoking bans in children’s homes may promote family resilience.