CARDIFF, Wales, Feb 3, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A Cardiff University study
found a link between anti-social behavior in children whose mothers smoked in
pregnancy.
The scientists at the University's Schools of Medicine and Psychology examined
the records of 779 children born by in-vitro fertilization whose prenatal
environment was provided by either a related mother or an unrelated mother.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
found a link between anti-social behavior in children whose mothers smoked in
pregnancy but only when the mother was genetically linked to the child.
When the child came from a donated egg and donated embryo -- egg or embryo
donation or surrogacy -- there was no link, suggesting factors other than
smoking during pregnancy influence anti-social behavior.
"What we have been able to confirm is that cigarette smoke in pregnancy does
lower birth weight regardless of whether the mother and child are genetically
related or not, but the link with children's behavior is different," principal
investigator Anita Thapar said in a statement.
"It is now clear that offspring anti-social behavior is more dependent on
inherited factors passed from mother to child, as our group of children with
mothers who smoked during pregnancy with no direct genetic link showed no
increased signs of anti-social behavior."
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