Background: Maternal nutrition during pregnancy has been linked with fetal brain development and psychopathology in the offspring. We examined for associations of maternal folate status and dietary intake during pregnancy with brain growth and childhood behavioural difficulties in the offspring. Methods: In a prospective cohort study, maternal red…

Methamphetamine (meth) exposure during fetal development has the potential to adversely affect the development of multiple organ systems. An interdisciplinary case study of a 4-year 11-month-old child born to a mother addicted to meth revealed significant cognitive and communicative delays. Possible meth-related consequences for these delays…

Historically, alcohol has been used for different purposes including as a part of religious observances, as a food, at times as a medicine and its well-known use as a beverage. Until relatively recently these purposes have not changed and have at times been at odds with one another, resulting in collisions among policies and practices in science,…

Folate is an important vitamin that contributes to cell division and growth and is therefore of particular importance during infancy and pregnancy. Folate deficiency has been associated with slowed growth, anaemia, weight loss, digestive disorders and some behavioural issues. Adequate folate intake around the time of conception and early pregnancy…

Background: Inverse associations of fetal growth with behavioural problems in childhood have been repeatedly reported, suggesting long-term effects of the prenatal developmental environment on behaviour later in life. However, no study so far has examined effects on temperament and potential developmental pathways. Temperamental traits may be…

The effects of prenatal stress on cognition and behavioral fearfulness in infants are studied. The findings suggest that mechanisms by which mental development and fearfulness are affected by prenatal stress are different and do not present a consistent relation.

Objective: Findings from a number of cohort studies suggest that children who are exposed to maternal stress during pregnancy have an increased risk of behavioral problems. All of the research assessing this association to date has been conducted in developed countries; yet the majority of the child population, and the majority of the burden of…

Background: Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often co-occur. Given the previously found familiality of ASD symptoms in children with ADHD, addressing these symptoms may be useful for genetic association studies, especially for candidate gene findings that have not been consistently…

Background: Longitudinal research has produced a wealth of knowledge about individual, family, and social predictors of crime. However, nearly all studies have started after children are age 5, and little is known about earlier risk factors. Methods: The 1970 British Cohort Study is a prospective population survey of more than 16,000 children born…

We estimated childhood risk of developing selected DSM-IV Disorders, including Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), in children with prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE). Children were enrolled prospectively at birth (n = 476) with prenatal drug exposures documented…

Project CHOICES developed an integrated behavioral intervention for prevention of prenatal alcohol exposure in women at high risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies. Settings included primary care, university-hospital based obstetrical/gynecology practices, an urban jail, substance abuse treatment settings, and a media-recruited sample in three large…

A study was conducted to evaluate whether prenatal smoking was only related to externalizing or both internalizing and externalizing problems in children from childhood to early adolescence. Results indicated that maternal smoking during pregnancy is an accurate predictor of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology among children.

Background: Studies concerning whether exposure to low levels of maternal alcohol consumption during fetal development is related to child inattention and hyperactivity symptoms have shown conflicting results. We examine the contribution of covariates related to social adversity to resolve some inconsistencies in the extant research by conducting…

We consider the effects of daytime fasting by pregnant women during the lunar month of Ramadan on their children's test scores at age seven. Using English register data, we find that scores are 0.05 to 0.08 standard deviations lower for Pakistani and Bangladeshi students exposed to Ramadan in early pregnancy. These estimates are downward biased to…

Despite decades of research and prevention efforts, low birthweight (less than 2,500 grams, or 5 lbs., 8 ozs.) remains a major public health challenge. Preterm birth (before 37 weeks of gestation) is by far the most common reason for low birthweight (LBW), and trendlines for LBW tend to parallel those for preterm birth. Since 1990, the U.S.…