Murky future for your kids if you smoke

Washington: A new study exploring smoking, heavy drinking and marijuana use across three generations indicates that the children of a parent who uses any of these substances are more likely to smoke, binge drink or use marijuana in adolescence and adulthood.

Drug transmission across generations, the study found, was for a general tendency to use these substances rather than to use any one specifically, with the exception of tobacco.

The children of cigarette smokers face an especially murky future, according to the University of Washington study published in the current issue of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

"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," a research associate professor at the UW's Social Development Research Group and co-author of the new study, Karl Hill said.

"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," he added.

The researchers also found a transmission link between the three generations – child behavior problems such as conduct disorder (getting into fights, stealing) attention deficit disorder (lack of focus, can't 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," lead author of the study and a UW research scientist, Jennifer Bailey said.

"These children then grow up to be adult substance users, whose kids have behavior problems and the cycle is repeated," he added.

The benefits of successful interventions "may echo across generation" the researchers wrote, noting the negative effects of substance use by grandparents are observed not only in their children but also in their grandchildren.