Every mum wants to do their best for their kids, and that starts when they're still in the womb. That's why we give up drinking, we stop smoking, we eat right. 

 

But unfortunately, we can't control everything they're exposed to.

 

According to a recent study, expectant mums exposed to common air pollutants are significantly more likely to have children who have trouble regulating their thoughts, emotions and behaviour.

 

Thus, those who live in highly polluted places, such as cities, are more likely to have kids at higher risk.

 

 

Researchers from Columbia University looked at early life exposure to a common air pollutant called called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Sources that produce PAH include car emissions, coal burning, and tobacco smoke.

 

The latest study involved data from 462 mother-child pairs living in New York City. Researchers took blood samples from pregnant women and tested children's emotional and self-regulation at ages three, five, seven, nine and 11. 

 

Children were tested with the Child Behavior Checklist at ages 3-5, 7, 9, and 11. 

 

Scores obtained from the CBCL were used to create a composite score for the Deficient Emotional Self-Regulation Scale (DESR), and higher scores on the DESR indicated reduced capabilities to self-regulate. 

 

 

Researchers found that children whose mothers had higher exposure to PAH in pregnancy had significantly worse scores on the DESR at ages 9 and 11 than children whose mothers had lower exposure to PAH in pregnancy.

 

Over time, low-exposure children followed a typical developmental pattern and improved in self-regulatory function, but the high-exposed children did not, underscoring the long-term effect of early-life exposure to PAH. 

 

Researchers also found that DESR score had a mediating effect on tests of social competence, indicating that self-regulation is an important factor in developing social competence.

 

The evidence that prenatal exposure to PAH leads to long-term effects on self-regulatory capacities during early and middle childhood suggests that PAH exposure may be an important underlying and contributing factor to the genesis of a range of childhood mental health problems. 

 

 

In terms of a potential mechanism, researchers suggest that prenatal exposure to PAH damages neural circuits that direct motor, attentional, and emotional responses. 

 

"This study indicates that prenatal exposure to air pollution impacts development of self-regulation and as such may underlie the development of many childhood psychopathologies that derive from deficits in self-regulation, such as ADHD, OCD, substance use disorders, and eating disorders," researchers wrote. 

 

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