"...the stimulant characteristics of nicotine enabled [smokers] to control some of their behavior problems just as Ritalin does for today's children."It is also interesting that the report says that smokers are more impulsive and have more accidents than nonsmokers.
"Although school system records would seem best suited for such research...restrictions on access to records,...[and] on the use of children in research without the informed consent of their parents will keep us out of the school systems until the rules are rewritten..."
Hyperkineses is the technical name for excessive activity which many children display. These youngsters (usually male) cannot stay still, are easily distracted, disrupt schoolrooms, lack ability to concentrate, are very careless and impulsive, often get left and right confused, have trouble reading, etc. Although a sedative would seem in order, they are better treated with stimulant drugs, today's favorite being Ritalin, which has the anomalous effect of quieting them down.
...To the extent that smokers' personality and life styles differ from those of nonsmokers, Dunn (1973) has pointed out that smokers are independent, antisocial, active and energetic, extraverted, impulsive, etc., and that they have more accidents, have poorer academic records, are more often male, etc.
The congruence...immediately suggests that hyperactives may grow up to become cigarette smokers, and that the principal reason cigarette smokers appear to differ from non-smokers is that the smoking group contains most of the country's formerly hyperactive children, still showing many of the same characteristics they showed in childhood. It is further tempting to suggest that in the past hyperactives adventitiously discovered that the stimulant characteristics of nicotine enabled them to control some of their behavior problems just as Ritalin does for today's children.
...We have been seeking a data source to provide us with a large sample of hyperactives who, at thetime of their diagnosis, were too young to be smokers. We would then track these children until they reached smoking age, and compare the proportion of smokers among them with the proportion among a control group.
Although school system records would seembestsuited for such research...restrictionson access to records, on thelengthof timerecords can be kept, on thetype of records which can be kept, and on the use of children in research without the informed consent of their parents will keep us out of the school systems until the rules are rewritten...
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