t’s commonly known that secondhand smoke exposure is a likely cause of asthma, ear problems, sudden infant death syndrome and other breathing issues in children; however, emerging evidence is finding there may be a correlation between secondhand smoke exposure and a less physical issue: behavior.
According to a study published this week in the journal Pediatrics, children growing up in a home with parents who smoke are more likely to develop behavioral problems,such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as opposed to children raised in a smoke-free environment.

"We found that children who are exposed to secondhand smoke in the home have increased odds of 50 percent of having two or three…common neurobehavioral disorders,"says researcher Hillel Alpert, ScM, at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Through their study, which was published July 11th, researchers examined a 2007 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention telephone survey of families which included 55,358 children under the age of twelve, 6 percent of which were exposed to secondhand smoke in the home.
The telephone survey queried parents whether a doctor or teacher had noticed ADHD or any other behavioral issue in the child, whether or not the child had received counseling and if anyone smoked in the home.

It was determined that approximately 8 percent of the children had learning disabilities, 6 percent had ADHD and about 4 percent had behavioral issues. Even after factors such as the parent’s educational and economic status were taken into account, it was still apparent that children who lived in homes with smokers were more likely to suffer from at least two behavioral-related conditions.

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