The negative effects of environmental tobacco smoke on a child who lives with parents who smoke continue to linger long after that child has left home, a new Ohio State University study suggests.
Mother smokes, baby inhales.
The work appeared in a recent issue of the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, in a paper co-authored by Stoney, Lentino, and Karen Emmons of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Heath, in Boston. Past research has shown that adults who grew up in smoking homes attained higher blood pressure and heart rate during physical stress than did adults who grew up in non-smoking homes. Stoney, Lentino, and Emmons wanted to find out whether the same result held true for psychological stress. The 78 male Ohio State students who participated in the study were all taking an introductory level psychology course. Their average age was 19 years, so most had been living away from home for approximately one year.