NCJ Number
216425
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 50 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 672-690
Date Published
December 2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article critically examined the research literature regarding the relationship between maternal cigarette smoking (MCS) during pregnancy and children’s subsequent antisocial behavior.
Abstract
The analysis revealed a modest yet somewhat unstable relationship between MCS and children’s criminal or deviant behavior. MCS appeared to be a distant risk factor for children’s subsequent antisocial behavior. The criminological literature has identified other individual-level characteristics that are more strongly associated with deviant behavior, such as self-control and delinquent peer association. The link between MCS and offspring crime/deviance is significant enough, however, to warrant future research. The purpose of this study was to move beyond a narrative review of the research regarding the effects of MCS on children’s subsequent behavior and to critically and empirically examine this body of research to determine the average effect size of the relationship between MCS and children’s antisocial behavior. Four criteria guided the selection of studies reviewed for this research: (1) published in English; (2) published in a peer-reviewed journal; (3) contained a measure of MCS; and (4) contained an outcome variable that measured criminal or antisocial behavior. The final sample included 18 empirical studies that generated a total of 75 effect size estimates for 12,042 individual cases. In addition to analyzing the empirical findings of these studies, the authors also examined the methodological characteristics produced by the sample of studies and explored how the findings of the studies were impacted by their methodological characteristics. Future research should use a longitudinal design to determine whether the criminogenic effect of MCS becomes overshadowed by other risk and protective factors that emerge during adulthood. Tables, appendix, notes, references