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Maternal smoking during pregnancy and conduct problems in high-risk youth: a developmental framework
Lauren S Wakschlag1, Sydney L Hans
1University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA. laurie@yoda.bsd.uchicago.edu
Insights
Prenatal smoking increases boys' risk for conduct disorder (CD) symptoms, especially with unresponsive early caregiving. This highlights a modifiable prenatal risk factor for developmental psychopathology.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Public Health
Background:
- Prenatal smoking is a known risk factor for adverse child outcomes.
- Its association with developmental psychopathology, specifically Conduct Disorder (CD), is robust.
- Developmental pathways linking prenatal smoke exposure to CD remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how prenatal cigarette exposure interacts with child and family factors in predicting CD symptoms.
- To examine the moderating roles of child sex and early caregiving quality.
- To elucidate developmental pathways from prenatal smoke exposure to CD.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 77 urban, African-American 10-year-olds.
- Assessed prenatal cigarette exposure, child sex, early caregiving quality, and CD symptoms.
- Utilized developmentally based measures of behavior across time.
Main Results:
- Prenatal smoking significantly increased CD symptoms in boys, but not girls.
- Prenatal smoking was linked to low sociability/negative emotionality in infancy for boys only.
- Exposed boys with unresponsive early caregiving showed higher CD risk, unlike those with responsive mothers.
Conclusions:
- Child sex and early caregiving quality moderate the association between prenatal smoking and CD symptoms.
- Prenatal smoke exposure represents a modifiable risk factor for early-onset developmental psychopathology.
- Prospective studies are crucial for understanding pathways from prenatal exposure to clinical disorders.
Abstract:
Smoking during pregnancy is associated with adverse consequences for children. Most recently, it has been established as a risk factor for developmental psychopathology, specifically Conduct Disorder (CD). Although this association has been shown to be robust, developmental pathways from exposure to CD have not been established. We examined how prenatal exposure to cigarettes interacts with child and family factors to increase risk of CD symptoms in a longitudinal study of 10-year-old urban, African-American youth (N = 77). The effects of prenatal exposure at school age were moderated by child sex. Boys whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were significantly more likely to develop CD symptoms, but exposure did not increase risk in girls. A similar trend was found during infancy: prenatal smoking was associated with low sociability/negative emotionality only for boys. The effects of smoking during pregnancy were also moderated by the quality of the early caregiving environment. Exposed boys whose mothers were unresponsive during infancy were at increased risk of CD symptoms, but exposed boys with early responsive mothers were not. Prospective studies, with developmentally based measures of behavior across time, are critical for further elucidating pathways from prenatal exposure to cigarettes to the development of clinical disorder. The identification of a potentially modifiable, prenatal risk factor for early onset developmental psychopathology has important implications for prevention.