Bad kids? blame secondhand smoke

A new study links pregnant women’s exposure to secondhand smoke and behavioral problems in their kids.

Researchers, led by Jianghong Liu at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, studied more than 600 mother/child pairs in Jintan, China, according to MyHealthNewsDaily,

Of the 37 percent of mothers who reported exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy, 25 percent of their children showed aggression and attention problems, the study says. Behavior problems only were shown in 16 percent of the children whose mothers were not exposed to secondhand smoke.

More than three-quarters of the fathers in the study who stopped smoking at home while their wives were pregnant resumed smoking once the baby was born.

The study was published in the journal NeuroToxicology.