According to Jennifer Bailey of the University of Washington, the saying that "History repeats itself" applies to grandma right here, and the repeat is disturbingly three-fold.

In a three-generational study conducted by Bailey's team, they found that substance use carries over to the next generations of the user. This is not a new finding as we see in different societies, where vices are inherited by the succeeding generations of the individual. However, the study's findings suggests that not only will our sons or daughters inherit our substance usage, but also down to our grandchildren.

Bailey and her team used data from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) for their Intergenerational Project wherein 808 respondents who had a biological child were followed from ages 10 to 27. Bailey's team studied the respondents' substance use and behavioral problems as well as those of their parents and children, who ranged from 1 to 13 years of age.

What they found was that children with attention problems and stealing during adolescence were also the ones whose grandparents smoked, used marijuana, or drank in binges. The behavioral problems at the adolescent phase (ages 13 to 14) were linked to substance use at a later age (15 to 18) and into early adulthood 'till age 27. These results were reported in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

Furthermore, the 27-year-olds who used certain substances also had children with behavioral problems. 43 percent of cigarette smoking-grandparents was linked specifically to cigarette smoking among their children. Bailey says, "Children of smokers, heavy drinkers or marijuana users are more likely to have behavior problems when they are young, and consequently more likely to have drug problems themselves as they get old," Bailey said in a university statement. "These children then grow up to be adult substance users, whose kids have behavior problems and the cycle is repeated."

Bailey says that this study is significant because we don't realize that not only is our specific vice inherited by our children and grandchildren, they also become prone to drinking heavily and drug abuse. However, she reminds us that their study is not deterministic in any way, that children of substance users are destined to end up the same way, but rather that these children become more prone and likely to acquire the same habits and vices that their parents/grandparents had.