A new University College London study establishes that children whose parents split up or die before the age of 7 are more likely to take up smoking or drinking by the time they’re teenagers, with some kids–especially boys–chugging booze or puffing on cigarettes by age 11. “People may take up risky health behaviors as a coping strategy or as a form of self-medication, to help them cope with stressful situations,” Rebecca Lacey, an author of the study and a senior research associate at University College London, tells CNN.