Parental smoking, depression, and child development: persistent and unanswered questions

Presented a review of the influences of parental smoking and depression on physical, behavioral, and cognitive development of children. The negative relationship between smoking and child development has been shown to follow a dose-response relationship and to be independent of several important confounds. Likewise, parental characteristics, particularly depression, have also been shown to be related to both smoking and child development. Since cigarette smoking is also linked with depression, there are many unanswered questions regarding the interrelationship of these three factors. Research should use a biobehavioral model to address the issues related to parental influences on child development. Suggestions are made for such an approach to studying parental smoking and child development which addresses the overlap between depression and parental smoking and their influence on child maturation.