Maternal smoking during pregnancy and adult male criminal outcomes

Background: Perinatal risk factors are related to persistent and violent cr iminal outcomes. Prenatal maternal smoking may represent an additional peri natal risk factor for adult criminal outcomes. Our study examines maternal smoking during pregnancy as a predictor of offspring crime in the context o f a prospective, longitudinal design. Methods: Subjects were a birth cohort of 4169 males born between September 1959 and December 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark. During the third trimester o f pregnancy, mothers self-reported the number of cigarettes smoked daily. W hen the male offspring were 34 years of age, their arrest histories were ch ecked in the Danish National Criminal Register. Additional data were collec ted concerning maternal rejection, socioeconomic status, maternal age, preg nancy and delivery complications, use of drugs during pregnancy, paternal c riminal history, and parental psychiatric hospitalization. Results: Results indicate a dose-response relationship between amount of ma ternal prenatal smoking and arrests for nonviolent and violent crimes. Mate rnal prenatal smoking was particularly related to persistent criminal behav ior rather than to arrests confined to adolescence. These relationships rem ained significant after potential demographic, parental, and perinatal risk confounds were controlled for. Conclusions: Maternal prenatal smoking predicts persistent criminal outcome in male offspring. This relationship has not been accounted for by related parental characteristics or perinatal problems. Potential physiologic or c entral nervous system mediators between maternal smoking during pregnancy a nd offspring criminal outcomes need further study.