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Heavy smoking during pregnancy can set your baby up for a life of crime, researchers say

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It should come as no surprise to anyone that smoking during pregnancy is bad for babies. But we’ll bet you didn’t know that exposure to cigarettes in utero could set a kid up for a life of crime.

By analyzing the health records of nearly 4,000 Rhode Island mothers – including some who were heavy smokers while they were pregnant in the 1950s and 1960s – and comparing them with the criminal records of their offspring more than 30 years later, researchers found that people whose moms smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day during those crucial nine months were 31% more likely to have been arrested than those whose moms didn’t smoke at all during pregnancy. The children of heavy smokers were also 47% more likely to become repeat offenders, according to a study, published online Tuesday in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The only good news was that mothers-to-be who smoked did not increase the odds that their children would grow up to commit violent crimes, according to the research team from Harvard University and Brown University.

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The association between smoking during pregnancy and criminal behavior was found for offspring of both sexes. It held up even when the researchers controlled for other things like socioeconomic status or the mothers’ mental health status.

It may seem farfetched, but the researchers point out that scientists have found that kids are more likely to act impulsively, be hyperactive and have attention problems if they are exposed to cigarette smoke in utero.

RELATED: Mother’s smoking increases daughter’s pancreatic cancer risk

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