So sorta semi-TIL post. For men, smoking cigarettes causes epigenetic changes which means (as I understand it) that the DNA damage caused by smoking is passed on to their children. The male sperm is damaged from the effects of smoking. There is a ‘significant’ chance of it causing “developmental disorders” which includes autism, ADHD and intellectual disability.
Honestly, search for the articles yourself, there are many and it’s an interesting rabbit hole. I do question how long this has been known to the cigarette companies who conduct their own research.
The UK has banned smoking cigarettes for under 16s for a reason. Making such a huge policy change like that must be for a very damaging reason. NZ did too, but pussied out - presumably from the lobbying.
So I just wanted to touch base and ask who has a father who smokes / used to smoke regardless of whether you’ve been officially diagnosed or think you may be autistic?
EDIT: I actually expected lots of downvotes for this post. There’s a great film called “Thank you for smoking” which everyone should watch.
Does a smoking Father cause neurodivergence in offspring, or does an undiagnosed Father become fixated on smoking?..
Considering nicotine is outrageously addictive basically everyone who does more than try it becomes fixated with it
I smoked for 11 years on and off, stopped for 1 again (I’ve stopped before) so far, and still get an urge now and then. Maybe it’s lifelong or takes decades to never feel it again, never looked into it.
Easy to start smoking. Just live a life where you want to die every day for awhile and have somebody offer you a smoke during a break at work. Oooh, overly specific! I’m in a better place these days. Pretty easy to stop honestly the withdrawal isn’t particularly powerful. Buuut it’s persistently there waiting for a day of weakness. Much much harder to stay quit.
Fr my dad smoked but i have a whole goddamn maternal line that’s ASD as fuck and neither of my siblings are autistic so I don’t think it was dad’s cigarettes…
Smoking doesn’t cause neurodiversity nor does any other “factor.” It is genetic plain and simple. My family has Autism going back generations. I know people who are in their 90’s that could easily get a diagnosis.
Neurodivergence does make addiction much more likely. I wish we would stop with lies promoted by RFK Jr. Autism is in fact not an epidemic.
as in, epigenetics…
Still bad information
This research is from the same kind of people who do “research” by observing children without actually trying to figure out what it is like to actually be Autistic. Who needs empathy when you can label and blame. The actual research done by actual Autistic people shows that Autism is really more of a difference than anything. That doesn’t quite generate PR like fear mongering does so you never hear about the research that actually helps people. Random genetic flips aren’t going to change something that’s been around since the dawn of time. There is no cure from something that’s a core part of a person. Trying to cure Autism is a result of some people being unhappy that people think different or behave in a way that breaks the Neurotypical subconscious.
Historically society to cure being homosexual and now days that’s generally unacceptable. In time I think people will stop trying to cure Autism as well.
My father smokes cigars a lot, it causing autism seems like a stretch tho
More like Autistic people used cigarettes as a coping mechanism
Pack a day smoker for 18 years before I had a kid. She’s awesome actually, super athletic way more than I am.
Motherfucker…
My dad smoked for years. But so did a huge percentage of boomers. Where I grew up, poor and rural, the majority of people smoked.
You know what the majority of people didn’t have, but which I did? An epileptic grandparent. And a family history of epilepsy is associated with autism diagnoses.
Huh, I didn’t know that. I have an epileptic aunt.
Both my parents were heavy smokers. In fact everyone in my family except me was. So I got the " benefit" ,of secondhand smoke for the first 20 years of life. Now I make a point not to have any ashtrays in my house so that those that still light up have to go outside to do it
Yep, but I’d want to know the statistics for the general population vs fathers of autistics before I draw any conclusions. A ton of fathers of my generation (millennials) smoked.
You also have to look at the statistics for rate of smoking in austistic vs non austistic people because people with autism are more likely have children with autism.
I think in theory it’s saying the smoking causes a genetic mutation that can then be passed on regardless of smoking in later generations.
Same. My dad didn’t smoke, but grew up in a home where both parents did. Does that contribute? If so, adding that extra dynamic would mean a likely astronomical percentage of millennials were born to fathers that had a strong-to-quite-strong exposure to the effects of smoking.
I (M) had never smoked when my autistic daughter was born.
My dad smoked for a bit when he was 14 but then he stopped because he didn’t like it. My mom never did.
I honestly find it hard to believe there is a statistically significant link between smoking and having children with autism. But I also don’t look into these science subjects that often.
You honestly find it hard to believe that a drug can cause epigenetic damage to the body which then can cause damage to the children?
My father never smoke or drank a day in his life.
I still got it.
My father smoked for quite some years, but he started after I was born. This is irrelevant for the purposes of this conversation, but it gives me a chance to repeat yet again a story and a decision he made that I immensely respect him for.
Once he divorced my mom, nobody in his circle smoked except him and my grandfather. So as these things go he would frequently find himself outside, alone, sucking down yet another coffin nail. When we were at family gatherings I’d often go outside with him and chew on my toothpick, just so he wouldn’t be out there alone.
One day we were outside at my grandfather’s, missing some portion of the yearly Christmas party. Both of us out there in the dark, in the freezing cold, with snow falling all around us and disappearing outside the tiny cone of light from the front porch light. Not even grandpa wanted to be out there with us. We could just barely hear the revelry going on inside, but it was quiet enough outside that the snow hitting the ground was audible.
My father took a contemplative puff, about halfway through the length of his cigarette.
Out of the blue he said, “Why the fuck am I doing this?” This stuck with me, because he didn’t cuss around me much.
I looked at him. He looked at me. Then he threw that cigarette out into the snow and never smoked again.
Just like that.
Autistic people can have serious willpower at times. Stopping smoking cold turkey feels like a very Autistic thing to do.
my father never smoked regularly, but i do.
Props to those moms mentioned in this thread that stopped smoking while pregnant. My mom smoked through all three of her pregnancies. As did my dad, right up until the day he died of a heart attack. Which my mom refuses to attribute to 50 years of smoking and about 30 of hard drinking. “Perfectly healthy people have heart attacks all the time.” She also blames the one medication she’s on for her teeth being brown.
Anyway, I have no clue what neurodivergencies my parents had/have because they’ve self-medicated their entire lives. Pretty sure my paternal grandfather was “high functioning” autistic but he died when I was young. My mom’s side of the family heavily leans towards substance abuse, so who knows what that’s hiding.
Both my parents smoked, my mom quit when she got pregnant with me (so I’ve been told). My sperm donor did not quit, and piled alcohol and weed addictions on top. So my mom was certainly around a lot of secondhand smoke while I was incubating.
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my late 40’s. Pretty sure one of my two sisters also has it but probably not diagnosed (I haven’t asked).
