A Western Health Board survey reveals the West's attitudes to smoking, alcohol and family life, writes Padraig O'Morain
Almost one-fifth of families in the West of Ireland refuse to allow family members to smoke anywhere in the house, according to a survey commissioned by the Western Health Board's Health Promotion Services.
The study also found parents begin to undertake fewer activities with their children after the children reach the age of eight.
The survey, Promoting Health in the West, which is due to be published next month, found that while most people believe it is important to change the drink culture in Ireland, many of them favour measures which would not affect their own drinking habits.
The survey was conducted by Jacky Jones and Fiona Donovan of the WHB's Health Promotion Services, Dr David Evans of the WHB's Department of Public Health and Noel Larkin of the MORI MRC research company.
Researchers interviewed more than 500 people in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
On smoking, the researchers found that over half of households (56 per cent) surveyed allowed smoking in their homes either in selected rooms (28 per cent) or everywhere in the house (28 per cent). Just under a fifth (18 per cent) did not allow smoking anywhere in the house.
"Lower socio economic households were significantly more likely to allow smoking everywhere in the house," the survey report says.
"There was no difference in relation to where people were allowed to smoke in the home whether there were children in the household or not."
In just over one-fifth of houses (22 per cent) there were no smokers. Asked if they objected to other household members smoking in the house, over half (54 per cent) of those surveyed said they had no objection.
Those who objected (32 per cent) "were significantly more likely to be drawn from a higher socio economic group or have a third-level education... disapproval levels were similar between households with no children under 16 and households with children 16 or under."
The findings show a substantial difference in parental involvement with younger and older children.
"The majority of respondents spend leisure time with their children aged seven or under [83 per cent\] and listen to and talk with children about any worries or concerns [73 per cent\] they may have on a daily basis.
"However, parents were less inclined [57 per cent\] to undertake such activities on a daily basis with children aged eight to 16."
Commenting on this finding, Ms Jones, regional manager of the Health Promotion Services, said it showed that poor communication between parents and teenagers begins before the teenage years as children begin to withdraw from their parents and want to do their own thing.
"Parents need to be someone children can talk to so that any problem can be dealt with, e.g. bullying or depression," the report adds.
There is considerable concern about the level of alcohol use in Ireland, according to the survey.
In all, 84 per cent of those surveyed said it was very or fairly important to change the drink culture. However, the measures which they proposed to tackle this tended to be those which international research has shown to be ineffective, the report says.
These included alcohol education in schools, identification cards to prove age and alcohol-free activities. The most effective measures, namely legislative restrictions and higher taxes, are the least popular among respondents.
While 78 per cent favoured alcohol education in schools, only 40 per cent favoured the banning of alcohol sponsorship of sporting events, only 38 per cent favoured warnings on alcohol labels, 29 per cent supported lower legal blood alcohol levels for drivers and only 16 per cent supported the idea of increasing tax on alcohol.
Those surveyed, says the report, "appeared to select interventions that would not impact on their own drinking habits".
The survey also found that 30 per cent of households which needed childcare were paying 20 to 50 per week; 36 per cent were paying 51 to 80; 22 per cent 81 to 110; 7 per cent were paying more than this with just one household in the highest bracket paying 171 to €200.