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Family Practice Vol. 12, No. 1, 22-27
© Oxford University Press 1995

research-article

Fathers' smoking and use of alcohol—the viewpoint of maternity health care clinics and well-baby clinics

Liisa Hyssälä, Päivi Rautava, Hans Helenius* and Matti Sillanpää**

Department of Public Health, University of Turku Finland
* Clinical Institution, University of Turku Finland
** Department of Child Neurology, University of Turku Finland

Correspondence to Liisa Hyssälä, Department of Public Health, Lemminkäisenkatu 1, 20520 Turku, Finland

The study population consists of the fathers of the families which took part in the project ‘The Finnish Family Competence Study’, conducted by the Department of Public Health, University of Turku. The initial phase of the study included 1279 men. At the onset of the study project their families were expecting their first baby. When examining the fathers' use of alcohol, it was found that those with the highest level of basic education and those in professional occupations had the highest frequency of alcohol use, but they only consumed small amounts of alcohol at a time. In contrast, industrial employees and those with a lower level of education used alcohol less frequently, but they used larger amounts at a time. Thirty-two per cent of the respondents reduced their drinking after the onset of the wife's pregnancy. Of the respondents 43.7% were smokers, 8.4% of whom stopped smoking after the onset of the wife's pregnancy. Smoking cessation by the father was statistically significantly explained by the fact that the wife had not smoked before pregnancy or that she had stopped smoking after the onset of pregnancy, in which case the father did the same. When the fathers were divided into two categories according to their alcohol use, i.e. lighter and heavier users, it was found that the latter group had a more negative attitude towards their children. Similarly, smoking fathers were found to have a more negative attitude towards their children than the non-smoking ones. The results of the present study point to the necessity for recognition of each family's needs and the introduction of new kinds of care practices in family-centred and integrated care.


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