Passive smoking is active on the brains of children, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Indoor Air. It would promote risks to developing brain systems that govern behavioral decisions, social and emotional life, and cognitive function. It would increase social problems.
Researchers at the University of Montreal in Canada carried out a study using medical data from a cohort of girls and boys born in 1997 or 1998 followed from birth. Each year, the parents of the 1,035 children reported if anyone in their marriage smoked when their children were between one and a half and seven and a half years old.
The scientists analyzed the behaviors of the little participants as well as their school results when they were 12 years old to establish whether there was a link between passive smoking and social disorders.
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The majority of families (60%) reported protecting their child from cigarette smoke, 27% of them said their offspring suffered from passive smoking intermittently and 13% chronically.
The findings of the study showed that the more young children are exposed to tobacco smoke at home, the more likely they are to adopt antisocial behavior towards others, to show aggression. proactive and reactive, having driving problems at school and dropping out at 12 years old.
“These long-term associations should encourage policy makers and public health professionals to educate parents about the developmental risks posed by exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. In addition, schools should incorporate this knowledge into their curricula at all grade levels with a view to preventing further possible exposures to neurotoxins, ”concluded Linda Pagani, lead author of the study and at the School of Psychoeducation. ‘Montreal university.
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