Effects of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy on Offspring Externalizing Problems: Contextual Effects in a Sample of Female Twins

Abstract

Studies of maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) suggest increased risk for cognitive impairment and psychiatric outcomes. However, it is uncertain whether these associations are the direct result of MSDP or related to confounding familial variables associated with MSDP. The current study employed propensity score analysis to examine the effects of MSDP on offspring EXT using data from a large sample of 979 unrelated mothers. Logistic regression models were used to determine the propensity that the offspring of these mothers were likely to be exposed to MSDP (i.e., smoked during only the first trimester (MSDP-EARLY[E]) or smoked throughout their pregnancy (MSDP-THROUGHOUT[T])) given known familial confounders. Analyses focused on the effect of MSDP-E/T on the EXT behavior in offspring of these mothers (N=1616) were conducted across the distribution of liability for MSDP-E/T and at different levels of risk for MSDP-E/T. MSDP-E/T was associated with offspring EXT problems, but the effects were partly confounded by the familial liability for MSDP. Further, the observed effects were not consistent across all levels of the MSDP risk distribution. These findings suggest a direct association between MSDP and offspring EXT behaviors, and that varied associations observed across studies may be the result of differences in the level of familial confounders that also have an effect on offspring EXT.

The Importance of the Prenatal Environment in Behavioral Genetics: Introduction to Special Issue

“…The two final SDP papers used a propensity scoring approach in the Missouri Adolescent Female Twin Study. Palmer et al (2016) examined how the effects of maternal SDP on offspring externalizing behavior may differ if the mother smoked only during her first trimester as compared to smoking throughout her pregnancy. The findings indicated that there was a direct effect of maternal SDP on offspring externalizing behavior, but that this direct association varied in a way consistent with a dose–response effect and was confounded, in part, with familial factors.…”

Tobacco exposure and maternal psychopathology: Impact on toddler problem behavior

“…In addition to this potential teratogenic effect, associated familial and contextual factors may also play a role in the development of problem behavior (Ellingson, Goodnight, Van Hulle, Waldman, & D’Onofrio, 2014; Knopik, 2009; Massey & Compton, 2013; Palmer, Bidwell, Heath, Brick, Madden, & Knopik, 2016). For instance, mothers who smoke during pregnancy are often younger, single parents (Ellingson, Rickert, Lichtenstein, Langstrom, & D’Onofrio, 2012) who are of lower income with less education (Cornelius, Leech, & Goldschmidt, 2004).…”

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring personality in childhood and adulthood

“…There is debate about the robustness of the association between MSDP and psychological and psychopathological functioning in offspring (D'Onofrio et al, ; Gaysina et al, ; Palmer et al, ). Most well‐powered studies have found psychological differences in offspring by whether their mother smoked during pregnancy (e.g., greater externalizing symptomatology; D'Onofrio et al, ; Gaysina et al, ; Kovess et al, ; Palmer et al, ). These studies, however, have also shown that unobserved factors account for this association.…”