A study conducted by researchers at the University of Nottingham has uncovered links between smoking in expecting mothers and children having behavioural issues and even the development of drugs problems in later life.

The research scanned 400 teenagers and found that some of those children whos mothers smoked during pregnancy developed thinner orbitofrontal cortexes - a physiological factor that meant that the teenagers were more likely to exhibit behavioural problems, as well as a tendency to experiment with drugs.

However, researchers who conducted the study also explained that half of those children who did have mothers that smoked during their pregnancy didn't show a developmental issue in the orbitofrontal cortex - the part of the brain that regulates emotion and evaluates rewards.

Of those children and mothers used in the study, boys with mothers who were categorised as light smokers during their pregancy were 44% more likely to display behavioural problems, while that figure almost doubled for boys born to heavy smokers.

Research has carried out by seperate UK and US scientists have led to the  belief that smoking during pregnancy can damage the structure of a baby's brain and significantly increases the risk of behavioural problems.