U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Association between Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure Across the First Four Years of Life and Manifestation of Externalizing Behavior Problems in School-Aged Children

Supporting Files
File Language:
English


Details

  • Alternative Title:
    J Child Psychol Psychiatry
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Background:

    Extensive literature in human and animal models has documented an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and externalizing behavior in offspring. It remains unclear, however, the extent to which postnatal environmental smoke exposure is associated with behavioral development, particularly for children whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy. The present study examined whether magnitude of exposure to environmental smoke across the first four years of life demonstrated a linear association with later externalizing symptoms.

    Methods:

    Exposure was quantified through salivary cotinine measured when children were 6, 15, 24, and 48 months of age, providing a more accurate quantification of realized exposure than can be estimated from parental-report of cigarettes smoked. Data were available for n = 1,096 (50% male; 44% African American) children recruited for the Family Life Project, a study of child development in areas of rural poverty.

    Results:

    Analyses indicate a linear association between cotinine and children’s symptoms of hyperactivity and conduct problems. This association remained significant after controlling for family poverty level, parental education, parental history of ADHD, hostility, depression, caregiver IQ, and obstetric complications. Furthermore, this association was unchanged when excluding mothers who smoked during pregnancy from the model.

    Conclusions:

    Findings are consistent with animal models demonstrating an effect of environmental exposure to nicotine on ongoing brain development in regions related to hyperactivity and impulsivity, and highlight the importance of mitigating children’s exposure to environmental smoke, including sources that extend beyond the parents.

  • Subjects:
  • Source:
    J Child Psychol Psychiatry.
  • Pubmed ID:
    31797389
  • Pubmed Central ID:
    PMC7350288
  • Document Type:
  • Funding:
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:5820dc0b5cf08ec30695ae90573237c7b8067319d9fa90a09a9681f65883bac5
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 348.36 KB ]
File Language:
English
ON THIS PAGE

CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.