Secondhand Smoke Increases High School Test Failure

Second hand smoking causes a variety of health problems, and now the researchers say it may affect academic performance as well according Bradley Collins, assistant professor of public health and director of the Health Behavior Research Clinic at Temple University.

The researchers analyzed data from 6,380 pregnant women and children from the 1958 British National Child Development Study. The researchers took other known risk factors into account such as socioeconomic status, gender, prenatal exposure to smoking and active smoking during adolescence period besides second hand smoking to evaluate this study. They found exposure to second hand smoking decreased the rate of passing the standardized achievement tests (SAT) by 30 percent in 16 to 18 year old age group.

The study also compared the effects of prenatal smoking exposure and second hand smoking exposure and found the later to have a significant effect on academic performance. The prenatal exposure did not influence much the test performance but that doesn’t mean the mothers should keep on smoking during pregnancy.

Collins said in the article:

It's important that we help smoking parents learn how to reduce their children's exposure to secondhand smoke, a goal that can be achieved without requiring the parent to immediately quit smoking, although that's the ultimate goal for the health of the entire family.”

The researchers found increasing similarities of smoking patterns between the United States and the United Kingdom. They found approximately one third of women in their childbearing years are smokers, 10 percent to 15 percent of women report smoking during pregnancy, and up to 60 percent of children may be exposed to smoke at home.

The study did not however find the cause of failure due to second hand smoking exposure. Collins is currently working on a study that is focused on reducing young children’s exposure to second hand smoking, breaking down behavior changes into smaller steps. He would like the parents to quit in totality but if they can’t they should find a place that exposes less second hand smoke to children.

Other authors in this study are Paul Wileyto from the University of Pennsylvania, Michael F.G. Murphy from Oxford University, and Marcus R. Munafò from the University of Bristol in the U.K.

There was an earlier study which showed the effects of second hand smoking on pets also, leading them to cancers and other ailments. The parents and adults should try not to smoke in front of children and pets.