Background:  Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes in children.

Purpose:  The specific aims were to: (a) Determine whether maternal smoking is related to mothers’ chronic stressors and depressive symptoms; and (b) Examine the associations of maternal smoking status and number of cigarettes smoked per day on children’s behavior problems.

Methods:  Cross-sectional data were collected from 205 single mothers with at least one child between two and six years of age. Inclusion criteria were: ≤ 185% of poverty level and not pregnant, suicidal, or receiving mental health treatment. In-home interviews were conducted using the Everyday Stressors Index, the CES-D Scale, the Child Behavior Checklist (on a single target child), and two questions about mothers’ smoking (yes/no; number of cigarettes smoked per day).

Results: Mothers’ chronic stressors and depressive symptoms did not differ by smoking status.  Number of cigarettes smoked was weakly correlated with both chronic stressors (r=.16, p=.02) and depressive symptoms (r=.14, p=.05). Mothers who smoked reported greater internalizing (t[204]=2.2, p=.03) and externalizing behavior problems (t[204]=2.8, p=.006) among their children than nonsmoking mothers. Number of cigarettes smoked was associated with internalizing (r=.20, p=.004) and externalizing behaviors (r=.25, p=.0004). In regression analysis, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, smoking status did not predict child behavior, but chronic stressors predicted both types. Controlling for personal characteristics, the more cigarettes smoked per day, the greater the externalizing, but not internalizing, child behavior problems.