SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY MAY CAUSE AGGRESSION IN CHILDREN

Picture a pregnant woman taking a long drag from a cigarette and you may picture a premature baby with a low birth weight, fighting for its first breath - but what most of us don't picture is an aggressive child. However, new evidence points to smoking during pregnancy as a cause for aggression in children, says a study from the University of Montreal published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

This conclusion comes from research which is part of a larger study looking at the behavior of 1,745 children, ages 18 months through 3 1/2 years. A child labeled as aggressive is described as being quick to bite, kick, hit or bully.

University of Montreal psychiatry professor Jean Seguin, co-author of the study, says this about smoking:

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SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY AFFECTS MYELIN GENES IN OFFSPRING

Smoking during pregnancy may interfere with brain development. New animal research shows maternal smoking affects genes important in the formation and action of a fatty brain substance called myelin that insulates brain cell connections.

The research was presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, held in San Diego.

The finding may explain why the children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, autism, drug abuse, and other psychiatric disorders. "Myelin deficits have been previously observed in adults with various psychiatric disorders," said Ming Li, PhD, of the University of Virginia, who directed the study.

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