Children with a parent who
smokes, drinks heavily or uses marijuana are
more likely to adopt these behaviors when they're
teens or adults, U.S. research suggests.
Children of smokers are especially at risk,
say a team from the University of Washington.
"If your parents were smokers, it is
a double whammy because you are more likely
to use drugs in general and even more likely
to smoke cigarettes," study co-author
Karl Hill, a research associate professor
at the university's Social Development Research
Group, said in a prepared statement.
"There is something about tobacco that
if parents smoke, their kids are more likely
to smoke. It may be that parents who smoke
might leave cigarettes around where their
children can see and get to them. Parents
may not leave marijuana and alcohol around
in the same way," Hill said.
The researchers tracked 808 people who were
students when they were first recruited from
Seattle elementary schools in 1985. Data was
also collected from their parents and their
children.
In addition to a family/substance abuse link,
the researchers found familial links for child
behavior problems such as conduct disorder
(fighting, stealing); attention-deficit disorder
(lack of focus, inability to sit still or
maintain attention); and oppositional-defiant
disorder (problems with authority).
"Children of smokers, heavy drinkers,
or marijuana users are more likely to have
behavior problems when they are young, and
consequently more likely to have drug problems
themselves as they get old. These children
then grow up to be adult substance users,
whose kids have behavior problems and the
cycle is repeated," study author and
research scientist Jennifer Bailey said in
a prepared statement.
The study was published in the current issue
of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
