Background: To describe the association between cigarette smoking and maternal factors amongst a cohort of Pacific mothers. Method: Mothers of a cohort of 1398 Pacific infants born in Middlemore Hospital, New Zealand during 2000 were interviewed when their infants were six weeks old (n=1376) and followed up at 12 months (n=1219). This paper is based on all mothers who were interviewed at both data points. Mothers participated in a one hour interview that included questions about smoking activities. Cross tabulations and logistic regression were applied to investigate the association between maternal smoking and health, demographic, social, cultural, and educational factors. Results: At the six weeks data point 24.5% of mothers reported smoking, and at the 12 month follow up 29.8% of mothers smoked. From the six weeks measurement point more mothers started smoking (9.6%) than stopped (4.4%). Variables associated with smoking at 12 months after birth were age, non-Tongan ethnicity, non-partnered or defacto marital status, NZ born, low income, full-time parenting, English fluency, non-separationalism, living with other smokers, size of house is too small and overcrowding. After controlling for confounding variables, English fluency and cultural alignment to mainstream New Zealand culture remained statistically significant. Formal education qualifications, parity, and type of house they lived in were not significantly associated with smoking. Conclusions: Many Pacific mothers in this cohort were smoking around the time of birth and continued to smoke a year after giving birth.

Implications: These findings demonstrate the need to explore acculturation issues surrounding smoking behaviour and smoking cessation for Pacific women in New Zealand.