Fathers' Intelligence Measured at Age 18-20 Years is Associated with Offspring Smoking: Linking the Swedish 1969 Conscription Cohort to the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions

Overview

Journal J Epidemiol Community Health

Specialty Health Services

Date 2015 Oct 31

PMID 26515987

Citations 1

Authors

Alma Sorberg Wallin

Andreas Lundin

Bo Melin

Tomas Hemmingsson

Affiliations

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Abstract

Background: An association between lower IQ of parents, measured early in life, and smoking among their offspring has been reported. The extent to which other background factors account for this association is unknown.

Methods: Data on IQ, smoking, mental health, social class, parental divorce and social problems in a cohort of men born during 1949-1951 and conscripted for military service in 1969 were linked to smoking data on 682 offspring interviewed in the Swedish Surveys of Living Conditions 1984-2009.

Results: In an age-adjusted model, a one-step decrease on a stanine scale was associated with an OR of 1.19 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.35) for offspring smoking. Adjusting for father's socioeconomic background and smoking, mental illness and social problems in youth only marginally lowered the OR's.

Conclusions: Lower IQ among fathers measured at ages 18-20 years was associated with smoking in their offspring. The association was not explained by father's social class in childhood or a higher prevalence of mental illness, social problems or smoking measured among the fathers in their late adolescence.

Citing Articles

Parental conscription and cumulative adverse experiences in war-affected children and adolescents and their impact on mental health: a comment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Erlewein K, Gossmann E, Fegert J Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2024; 18(1):42.

PMID: 38553764 PMC: 10981359. DOI: 10.1186/s13034-024-00732-0.

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