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Pregnancy smoking and childhood conduct problems: a causal association?
B Maughan1, C Taylor, A Taylor
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Insights
Maternal smoking during pregnancy is linked to conduct problems in young children, not later antisocial behavior. Persistent maternal smoking, rather than pregnancy smoking alone, appears to be the key risk factor.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Growing evidence suggests a link between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring antisocial behavior.
- The potential causal relationship requires further investigation in large, prospective studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between maternal smoking in pregnancy and antisocial behavior in offspring.
- To determine if the association is dose-dependent and persists into adolescence.
- To explore the role of persistent maternal smoking versus pregnancy smoking.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70).
- Prospective study design from birth to age 16.
- Analyzed dose-response relationship and controlled for social and maternal factors.
Main Results:
- A significant dose-response relationship was observed between smoking extent during pregnancy and childhood-onset conduct problems.
- No association was found between pregnancy smoking and adolescent-onset antisocial behaviors.
- The effect on childhood conduct problems was robust to controls and similar in girls and boys.
Conclusions:
- Persistent maternal smoking, or its correlates, is more strongly associated with early-onset conduct problems than pregnancy smoking per se.
- Findings suggest that the timing and persistence of maternal smoking are critical factors in offspring behavioral outcomes.
Abstract:
Recent investigations have highlighted associations between maternal smoking in pregnancy and antisocial behaviour in offspring, and suggested the possibility of a causal effect. We used data from the 1970 British birth cohort study (BCS70) to examine these links in a large. population-based sample studied prospectively from birth to age 16. We found a strong dose-response relationship between the extent of pregnancy smoking and childhood-onset conduct problems, but no links with adolescent-onset antisocial behaviours. Effects on childhood-onset conduct problems were as marked for girls as for boys, and were robust to controls for a variety of social background factors and maternal characteristics. Controls for mothers' subsequent smoking history modified this picture, however, suggesting that the prime risks for early-onset conduct problems may be associated with persistent maternal smoking--or correlates of persistent smoking--rather than with pregnancy smoking per se.