"We overrate the rebelliousness of teenagers," said Dr. James Sargent, an associate professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. "That works to our disadvantage because parents underestimate their influence on their children. They have an overly heightened concern about coming down hard on their kids about things like smoking because they think it's just going to make them more rebellious."

Sargent's study also found that parental disapproval is effective even if one or both of the parents are smokers. "Parents who smoked who set nonsmoking expectations on their kids had just as much influence as parents who didn't smoke," he said.

The study's findings were based on survey responses from 372 rural Vermont youngsters in 1996 in grades four through 11 who had never smoked. The students were asked about their parents' views on smoking, whether their friends smoked, and whether they would start smoking.

The study is published in December's issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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