Albanie Stoddard

Psychology 101-008
April 20, 2014
Signature Assignment

Tobacco and Nicotine Research

In the article, Psychological Differences Between Smokers Who
Spontaneously Quit During Pregnancy and Those Who Do Not: A
Review of Observational Studies and Directions for Future Research, it
talks about smoking during pregnancy being the most common risk
factor that is preventable for poor birth outcomes. Children affected by
this have shown researchers that they develop high risks for conduct
disorder, ADHD, as well as criminality in adulthood. According to the
article, smoking during pregnancy has caused an estimated $366
million in neonatal healthcare costs just in the US.
The researchers conducted their study by reviewing 51 plus
articles related to the subject from 1996 to 2011. They were looking for
clinical examples, quantitative observational studies either of a
population or individuals. The results of the 4 longitudinal studies and
the 4 cross-sectional studies of the research indicated that
schizophrenia, ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, werent
related to the stopping of smoking during pregnancy. Whereas conduct
disorder, self-esteem issues, personality, secure attachment, and
parenting competence were related to smoking and stopping during
pregnancy.

Compton and Massey also write that a lot of body in the

literature documents they researched had factors differentiating
pregnancy smokers and pregnancy quitters. Such as; Pregnancy
smokers being poorer, less educated, have more people who smoke
around them, less likely to marry, and have a higher nicotine
dependence. Whereas pregnancy quitters do not have those factors
associated with them.
There are definitely flaws and strengths in this study, noted by
the two authors and myself. They stated that, Clearly, more research
using large, representative samples of pregnant women, prospective
designs, biomarker confirmation of smoking status during pregnancy,
and adequate controls for characteristics associated with lifetime
smoking are needed to identify sources of psychological resilience
among smokers who are able to quit during pregnancy. I would
definitely have to agree with that. They had great substantial evidence
but a little bit more on the opposite side would suffice.
In the article, Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Not Only
Children, But Grandchildren, it starts out by saying You know that it's
really bad for your kids if you smoke while pregnant. But the
consequences of smoking during pregnancy actually last more than
just one generation. The article goes on to explain that they have
noted differences in height and mass among children with

grandmothers who were smokers, even if their mother was a nonsmoker.

My favorite part and the most informative part of the article
states that, When the paternal grandmother smoked during
pregnancy, granddaughters were taller and grandsons had a greater
bone and muscle mass. When the maternal grandmother smoked, the
grandsons were heavier than expected during adolescence. If both
grandmothers smoked, granddaughters had lesser height and weight
compared with girls whose mothers, but not grandmothers, smoked
during pregnancy.
Its proof! Yes we know smoking is bad but did we realize it was
this bad? It not only affects the smoker and the child born to them but
it can also affect the child born to the previous child. Its a long chain
and a long cycle and is passed down through generations. Is it really
worth it?

Works Cited:
Massey, S., & Compton, M. (2012, April 30). Psychological Differences
Between Smokers Who Spontaneously Quit During Pregnancy and
Those Who Do Not: A Review of Observational Studies and Directions
for Future Research. Retrieved April 13, 2015.

Shah, Y. (2014, August 19). Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Not Only
Children, But Grandchildren. Retrieved April 13, 2015.