Prenatal maternal smoking, maternal offending, and offspring behavioural and cognitive outcomes in early childhood
- 5 September 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health
- Vol. 28 (5), 397-408
- https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.2089
Abstract
Background Maternal smoking during pregnancy and parental offending are both linked to adverse offspring outcomes. Few studies have examined how these exposures together influence diverse offspring outcomes in early childhood. Aims To examine associations between quantity of prenatal maternal smoking and frequency of maternal offending and offspring behavioural and cognitive outcomes at age 5 years. Methods Over 66,000 Australian children (mean age 5.6 years) were drawn from an intergenerational data linkage study. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regressions were conducted for the two key exposures (maternal prenatal smoking and mother having at least two criminal convictions) and offspring behavioural and cognitive vulnerabilities. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were also estimated for each outcome for the two exposures. Results Prenatal smoking and maternal offending were, separately and together, associated with most of the developmental vulnerabilities examined, even after adjusting for other familial and prenatal risk factors. PAFs for prenatal smoking ranged from 5.3% to 15.8%, and PAFs for maternal offending ranged from 3.4% to 11.8% across the offspring outcomes. Conclusions Maternal smoking during pregnancy and maternal offending were uniquely associated with a range of offspring vulnerabilities, but mothers who smoked during pregnancy tended to experience multiple problems that should also be considered as indicators of child vulnerabilities. While early behavioural difficulties were evident in these children, it was striking that they were also likely to have cognitive vulnerabilities. Early intervention to support cognitive development in these children may minimise their risk of academic underachievement, long‐term disadvantage, and even offending.Keywords
Funding Information
- Australian Rotary Health (RG104090)
- National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1058652, APP1061875)
- Australian Research Council (FT170100294, LP110100150)
- Australian Institute of Criminology (CRG 19/14‐15)
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW-CDS): an Australian multiagency, multigenerational, longitudinal record linkage studyBMJ Open, 2016
- Data Resource Profile: The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI)International Journal of Epidemiology, 2014
- Unpacking Links between Fathers’ Antisocial Behaviors and Children’s Behavior Problems: Direct, Indirect, and Interactive EffectsJournal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2011
- The Intergenerational Transmission of Low Self-controlJournal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 2010
- Intergenerational continuity in convictions: A five‐generation studyCriminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2009
- “Epidemiological Criminology”: Coming Full CircleAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2009
- Prenatal Smoking and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Children Studied From Childhood to Late AdolescenceJournal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2008
- Investigating the Validity of the Australian Early Development IndexEarly Education and Development, 2007
- Exposures to Environmental Toxicants and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in U.S. ChildrenEnvironmental Health Perspectives, 2006
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy and adult male criminal outcomes.Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999