BACKGROUND: Parental bonding has been implicated in smoking behavior, and the quality
of maternal bonding (MB) has been associated with poor mental health and substance
use. However, little is known about the association of MB and the smoking of the offspring.
METHODS: In our study, 129 smokers and 610 non-smoker medical students completed the
parental bonding instrument, which measures MB along two dimensions: care and overprotection.
Four categories can be created by high and low scores on care and overprotection:
optimal parenting (OP; high care/low overprotection); affectionless control (ALC;
low care/high overprotection); affectionate constraint (AC; high care/high overprotection),
and neglectful parenting (NP; low care/low overprotection). Nicotine dependence was
assessed by the Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Test, exhaled CO level, and daily cigarette
consumption (CPD). RESULTS: Higher CPD was significantly associated with lower overprotection
(p = 0.016) and higher care (p = 0.023) scores. The odds for being a smoker were significantly
higher in the neglectful maternal bonding style compared to the other rearing styles
(p = 0.022). Besides, smokers showed significantly higher care and lower overprotection
scores with the Mann-Whitney U-test than non-smokers, although these associations
did not remain significant in multiple regression models. CONCLUSION: Our results
indicate that focusing on early life relationship between patient and mother can be
important in psychotherapeutic interventions for smoking. Registration trials retrospectively
registered.