Children are more likely to smoke if mothers smoked while pregnancy
Published on May 29, 2009 4:48 AM
According to the study conducted by Villanova University scientists revealed that minors and young adults whose mothers smoked while being pregnant were more likely to start smoking and become regular smokers later on.
The leader of the latter study, Prof. Joseph Devall stated that smoking cigarettes was bringing inevitable alterations to the fetus’s brain. Therefore, it the unborn child was exposed to smoke while being in the mother’s womb, he is much more likely to become a regular smoker than those children whose mothers did not used to smoke during pregnancy.
The results of the study published in American Journal of Pediatrics demonstrated that adolescents who were exposed to smoking were five times more likely to start smoking between the ages of 14 and 17.
During the research, scientists made use of the statistics by Pennsylvania Public Health Department and local Tobacco-Free Kids branch in order to estimate if maternal smoking while being pregnant and breastfeeding influenced child’s smoking habits and likeability.
After having collected all the available data, the researchers compared expectant mother’s smoking when expecting he child and when breastfeeding to the child’ smoking predilection when he was from 16 to 20.
The scientists revealed that those women who smoked while expecting and breastfeeding their children, had a lot more chances to get their children start smoking regularly before the age of 21. Another important issue demonstrated by that study was that even in case mothers stopped smoking during pregnancy or breastfeeding but get hooked again when their children went to school still found their kids to become underage smokers.
Moreover, the children of smoking mothers were not only likely to start smoking as well, but also less likely to give up the habit easier than those minors whose mothers did not smoke during early years of their lives.
In addition scientists found out that underage likeability to start smoking was not affected by the fact that their fathers were smoking or by pressure from their friends and peers as much as in case of maternal smoking.
Prof. Joseph Devall said that it would be another reason for women to revise their habit. He stated that mothers should by no means expose their children to secondhand smoke while being pregnant or breastfeeding, since in case kids have been exposed to smoking during early years of their lives it would be very difficult to keep them away from starting to light up in adolescence, and also those children have been subjected to a higher risk of getting addicted to cigarettes than their peers from non-smoking environment.
Dr. Virginia N. Artur, who also took part in the research, said that the results were not unexpected since it was proven a long time ago that women should not light up while expecting because it would expose her unborn child to many health risks, including several congenital diseases. However, with that study it has become clear that smoking during pregnancy as well has a great impact on the likeability of starting smoking during adolescence.
Dr. Arthur as well said that although the study provides a scientific explanation to child smoking like changes in the brain neurobiology, they did not pay a significant attention of social factors that also have a great influence on the decision of a minor whether to start smoking or not.
In the end, she advised female smokers to give up the habit before getting pregnant in order to prepare the body to raise a healthy child.
