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Obstetric complications, parenting, and risk of criminal behavior
S Hodgins1, L Kratzer, T F McNeil
1Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, CP 6128, Succ. Centre Ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7. shellagh.hodgins@umontreal.ca.
Insights
Inadequate parenting significantly increases the risk of adult criminality and violence. While pregnancy complications alone do not elevate this risk, their combination with poor parenting slightly amplifies offending rates.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal and developmental psychology
- Criminology
- Public health
Background:
- Contradictory findings exist regarding prenatal/perinatal complications and adult criminality.
- Previous studies often used single cohorts, necessitating more precise investigations.
- This study examines associations with refined definitions of subject characteristics and offenses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between prenatal/perinatal complications and adult criminality.
- To clarify the influence of obstetric complications and parenting on offending behaviors.
- To analyze these associations within a large, well-defined cohort.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 15,117 individuals born in Stockholm in 1953 was followed to age 30.
- Data were collected from obstetric, health, social, work, and criminal records.
- Obstetric complications and inadequate parenting (indexed by social intervention) were defined and analyzed.
Main Results:
- Inadequate parenting increased offending risk (men: 1.39x, women: 2.09x) and violent offending risk (men: 2.02x, women: 2.09x).
- Obstetric complications alone did not elevate offending risk without family problems.
- Combined pregnancy complications and inadequate parenting showed a modest increase in offending risk compared to inadequate parenting alone.
Conclusions:
- Inadequate parenting is a significant risk factor for adult offending and violence.
- The combination of pregnancy complications and inadequate parenting slightly increases offending risk beyond inadequate parenting alone.
- Inadequate parenting alone affects a larger proportion of the population than the combined risk factors.
Background:
The results of studies that have examined the relationship between prenatal and perinatal complications and adult criminality and violence are contradictory. Supporting evidence for this relationship comes from studies of samples drawn from a single cohort. The present study was designed to examine the associations between prenatal and perinatal complications and criminality, defining more precisely than past investigations subject characteristics and the types of offenses.
Methods:
The cohort includes the 15 117 persons born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1953 and followed up to age 30 years. Information was extracted from obstetric files, health, social, work, and criminal records. Obstetric complications were defined as deviations from normal development occurring at any point from conception through the neonatal period. Inadequate parenting was indexed by social intervention.
Results:
Inadequate parenting was experienced by 19.1% of the men and 18.1% of the women, and was shown to increase the risk of offending (men, 1.39 times [95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28-1.50]; women, 2.09 [95% CI, 1.70-2.56]) and of violent offending (men, 2.02 times [95% CI, 1.67-2.44]; women, 2.09 [95% CI, 1.70-2.56]). Obstetric complications in the absence of family problems did not increase the risk of offending. A combination of pregnancy complications and inadequate parenting affected 3.1% of the men and 4.0% of the women, and increased the risk of offending (1.64 times [95% CI, 1.43-1.89]; 1.79 times [95% CI, 1.16-2.75], respectively) and violent offending (2.86 times [95% CI, 2.09-3.91]; 1.81 times [95% CI, 0.57-5.79]).
Conclusions:
A combination of pregnancy complications and inadequate parenting increased the risk of violent and nonviolent offending only slightly more than inadequate parenting alone. However, inadequate parenting was experienced by 5 times more cohort members than was the combination of inadequate parenting and pregnancy complications.