There's good news about children's second hand exposure to tobacco smoke ‚ it's going down. This is happening across all racial, ethnic, educational and income groups. The decline was greater than the decline in smoking.
In 1992, in 36% of all households children were exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke. By 2000, children in only 25% of households experienced secondhand tobacco smoke exposure. During this same time period, the percentage of American who smoked declined from 26.5 to 23.3%.
Maternal smoking rates are related to the mother's education. Thirty five percent of mothers who attended or graduated from high school smoked compared to only 10% of women who graduated from college, and it was still a lower percentage for women with graduate degrees. However, there was a decline for all educational groups. The same was true for fathers.
Unfortunately, during this time period there was a small decrease in the percent of adults who believed that secondhand smoke is harmful ‚ from 89% to 86%.
American Journal of Public Health, 4/04.
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