Parental drug use, early adversities, later childhood problems and children's use of tobacco and alcohol at age 10: birth cohort studyAddiction Published Online: 14 Aug 2008
To estimate the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use among children at age 10 years and to investigate possible influences on this.
A total of 1.3% of children reported smoking and 1.8% reported drinking alcohol, with boys reporting higher use than girls. Parental social disadvantage was the strongest predictor of children's smoking and also predicted children's alcohol use. Some of this association appeared to be mediated through the greater experience of childhood behavioural and cognitive problems among the disadvantaged. Parental smoking and paternal alcohol use had little independent influence on offspring drug use. Postnatal, rather than prenatal, maternal alcohol use predicted children's alcohol use.
Strategies to prevent early initiation of tobacco and alcohol use should focus upon the reduction of childhood social disadvantage and the behavioural and cognitive problems associated with this.
Request Reprint E-Mail: john.macleod@bristol.ac.uk
____________________________________________________________
