http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/6/1028

Maternal Lifestyle Factors in Pregnancy Risk of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Associated Behaviors: Review of the Current Evidence

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review was to examine the literature assessing the relationship between prenatal exposure to nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and psychosocial stress during pregnancy to the risk of developing behavioral problems related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood.

In spite of inconsistencies, the studies on nicotine indicated a greater risk of ADHD-related disorders... Many studies suffered from methodological shortcomings.... A general lack of information on familial psychopathology also limited the interpretations.

CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to tobacco smoke in utero is suspected to be associated with ADHD and ADHD symptoms in children.

I swear to God, my kid's class sizes are 1/2 the size of the ones I had as a kid. Every year they complain of at least one wild kid in their class. There was even a girl in my son's Kindergarten class who was kicked out of school.

Yet I can't recall ever having ONE wild kid in all my years in school. And I went to school when husbands and wives smoked before, during, and after pregnancy. Hell, they even drank back then.

I agree, Squeezer. Besides, this "review" itself is so filled with uncertainties that it never should have seen publication.

I went to grade school with a local bully who enjoyed jumping across on the tops of students' desks. The teacher would tell him to stop it and sit down. We all survived that trauma without the use of drugs or counselors or psychiatrists telling us how emotionally scarred we were supposed to be.

Ah, professional victimhood. I'm in the wrong line of work.