Posted on 05/18/2008 8:12:38 PM PDT by blam
Mobile phone use linked to behavioural problems in children
By David Thomas
Last Updated: 12:06AM BST 19/05/2008
The children of mothers who use mobile phones while pregnant are more likely to develop behavioural problems, new research suggests. A study of more than 13,000 children in Denmark claims to show a link between use of handheld telephones by pregnant women and problems such as hyperactivity in their children.
The risks are increased if the child then uses a mobile themselves before the age of seven, according to the report to be published in the journal Epidemiology.
The study raises renewed questions over the safety of mobile phones, which have in the past been linked with brain cancer.
The scientists behind the research at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Aarhus in Denmark stressed that the results "should be interpreted with caution" and checked by further studies.
But they added: "If they are real they would have major public health implications."
The programme surveyed 13,159 children born in the late 1990s. Results showed that mothers who did use handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems. That figure increased to 80 per cent when the children also later used the phones themselves.
Or maybe, just maybe, children of moms who spend all day yakking on the phone develop behavioral problems for more prosaic reasons?
Who would give a cellphone to an under-ten?
In another study, children that used the phone while in the womb have exhibited phones stuck to their ears and behaved erratically when the phone rrrranggggg.
Or children of moms who are driving while on the phone are stupider because of genetic duplication?
Apparently these researchers didn’t get the memo. Everyone knows the kid’s behavioral problems are the result of global warming.
Yeah, how can they discern a nature (cell phone radiation effects) versus nurture (yakkity unattentive mothers) effects in this study without longitudinal studies with separated twins?
Apparently these “scientists” were not forced to take a statistics class during their indoctrinations. Correlation does not imply causation. I’m sure there are more reasons than cell phones behind the bad behavior (narcissistic parents who won’t get off the phone to tend to their children, or maybe the fear of swatting a misbehaving kid in public leads to a lack of discipline).
Could it be that youngsters with cell phones are SPOILED?
I see 2nd and 3rd graders with cell phones all the time now....
WHY????
Not that I really agree with the story, but I think it’s talking about mothers who used cell phones while pregnant - not the kids themselves using the phone - that causes “hyperactivity in children”.
oh, never mind - I see it goes on to say “The risks are increased if the child then uses a mobile themselves before the age of seven.”
My daughter’s family doesn’t have a home phone - so, yes, my grand-daughter used one at an early age. Her mom used one while pregnant, too....but my grand-daughter’s behavior is quite normal.
Cell phones encourage short attention spans not because of “radiation,” but because people's tolerance for waiting is reduced. Therefore, their behavior with their children shows a short attention span/level of patience.
Children learn from their parents’ behavior. Such parents will be more likely to give their kids things like video games to keep them entertained while the parents are busy being distracted with their toys.
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