Parenting

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Early exposure to alcohol is one of the greatest predictors of later in life substance abuse. Researchers at the University of Washington think they know why - after investigating the issue using alcohol loving rats in an animal model decision making experiment.

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Canadian researchers say that up to 15% of toddlers and preschoolers show signs and symptoms of depression or anxiety and that babies who are difficult at 5 months of age are at much greater risk of the disorders.

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Columbia University researchers have released their annual back to school alcohol and drug use survey of parents and teens. They say that teens that see a parent get drunk are far more likely to also get drunk - just one of many noteworthy facts from this snapshot of real world teen attitudes and substance use.

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A 30 year old woman out of Houma Louisiana has pled guilty to child cruelty for using opiates while pregnant and passing her addiction to her unborn child. Her infant daughter suffered opiate withdrawal symptoms as a newborn and continues to require medical treatment some 7 months later.

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Although the alcohol industry pledges to avoid showing alcohol ads during children’s programming, the shows that teens like on cable TV show far more alcohol ads than the shows teens don’t watch.

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Researchers in Toronto say that a lot of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders receive an initial wrong-diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but that although the negative behaviors exhibited by children with both conditions are similar, the cognitive processes causing these behaviors differ greatly.

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A baby's smile gives mom a cocaine like high. Dr. Lane Strathearn thinks that a form of "smile addiction" may be critical for the formation of a healthy mom-child bond.

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Police in Greenburgh New York are spending a few hours a week browsing across the Facebook pages of area teens, hoping to catch wind of parties and underage drinking.

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Sherry Ambolino was charged with endangering the welfare of children after packing 4 kids into a minivan for an incredibly drunken drive across town.

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Duke University researchers say that by examining how much alcohol teen rats drink after only 3 days of exposure, they can predict fairly well which rats will drink heavily later in life.

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Pregnant women shouldn't smoke marijuana, and they certainly shouldn't drink alcohol - but worst of all, is to take these two drugs together.

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After 18 months investigating the health deficits of children born to alcohol abusing mothers, UK psychiatrist Dr. Raja Mukherjee has found an environmental link to autism.

© Photo: Hamed Masouimi

Teens aren't getting bullied into smoking - young to middle aged teens astonishingly still believe they won't get addicted.

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