---
title: "Psych News Alert: Smokers' Children Miss More School Days"
description: Missing out on what happens at school is just one more price that children who live with smokers have to pay. In a study funded by the Natio...
---

[Psych News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org)

# [Psych News Alert: Smokers' Children Miss More School Days](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/smokers-children-miss-more-school-days.html)

 Written by [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) | 10/20/11 4:00 AM

<https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/smoking%20dad_1392980-Jun-24-2025-07-44-59-1637-PM.jpg> Missing out on what happens at school is just one more price that children who live with smokers have to pay. In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the October *Pediatrics*, a group of Boston-based researchers have concluded that tobacco smoke exposure has significant consequences for children and families above and beyond child morbidity, including academic disadvantage and financial burden. Absenteeism among children aged 6 to 11 years living with smokers could be reduced 24 to 34 percent by eliminating smoking in their homes. Caregivers’ lost wages and time due to child absenteeism was valued at $227 million a year.

Another good reason to quit smoking? Nicotine dependence has emerged as a risk factor for suicide attempts. Read about it in [*Psychiatric News*](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/3/16.2.full?sid=ee408e87-1f7a-4b58-876f-1d3a2eca5606). Also see *[Nicotine in Psychiatry: Psychopathology and Emerging Therapeutics](http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=8797)* from American Psychiatric Publishing.

(Image: Elena Kouptsova-Vasic/Shutterstock.com)

[View full post](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/10/smokers-children-miss-more-school-days.html)

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