Wednesday, November 23, 2016

A house full of smoke leads to teens who mope

Scimex: If the physical effects on your children were not good enough reasons to stop smoking in your house, Canadian researchers have found a modest, yet reliable long-term link between exposure to household tobacco smoke and antisocial behaviour in early adolescence. The team recorded 1035 children that were exposed to household smokers at seven follow-up interviews, between 1.5 and 7.5 years old, and at the age of 12, children self-reported on five different aspects of antisocial behaviours, with researchers finding that higher exposure to smoky homes was linked to childrens' behavioural problems, aggression, lack of discipline at school and increased risk of dropping out. The authors suggest that a child's neuro-social development is being influenced by the neurotoxic substances in second-hand smoke, which can lead their newly forming brain pathways towards these deviant behaviours.
Researchers found modest, yet reliable long-term links between early childhood household smoke exposure and self-reported antisocial behavior in early adolescence.
For the study, parents of 1035 children reported on the presence of household smokers at seven follow-ups from ages 1.5 to 7.5. At age 12, children self-reported on five aspects of early antisocial dispositions.
“The findings suggest that neurotoxic second-hand smoke in the home during early childhood can subsequently influence a child’s neuro-social development at a time when maturational pathways toward more deviant behaviors risk becoming entrenched,” said Dr. Linda Pagani, lead author of the Indoor Air study.