Assessing the Relationship Between Maternal Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy and Age at First Police Contact

• NCJ Number: 185289
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 17 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2000 Pages: 519-542
• Author(s): Chris L. Gibson; Alex R. Piquero; Stephen G. Tibbetts
• Editor(s): Finn-Aage Esbensen
• Date Published: September 2000
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data from the Philadelphia portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP) were used to examine the possible link between maternal prenatal cigarette smoking and the age at first police contact in a cohort of black males and females followed through 17 years of age.

Abstract

The analysis focused on the offender sub-sample of the CPP that included 200 offender cases, 138 males and 62 females. Logistic regression analysis indicated that maternal prenatal cigarette smoking had a significant effect on age at first police contact, even with controls for a variety of other risk factors. Although maternal cigarette smoking significantly predicted early onset of police contact among males but not among females, odds ratios suggested that the effect was quite similar across genders. Limitations of the study data are noted, and future research and policy directions focused on intervention programs during pregnancy are addressed. 86 references, 4 tables, and 1 figure