Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy predicts drug use via externalizing behavior in two community‐based samples of adolescents

• Published in: Addiction
• Main Authors: Lotfipour, Shahrdad, Ferguson, Eamonn, Leonard, Gabriel, Miettunen, Jouko, Perron, Michel, Pike, G Bruce, Richer, Louis, Séguin, Jean R, Veillette, Suzanne, Jarvelin, Marjo‐Riitta, Moilanen, Irma, Mäki, Pirjo, Nordström, Tanja, Pausova, Zdenka, Veijola, Juha, Paus, Tomáš
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2014
• Subjects: Clinical and Health Psychology; Public Health; Health Sciences; Psychology; Prevention; Clinical Research; Perinatal Period - Conditions Originating in Perinatal Period; Tobacco; Youth Violence; Pediatric; Drug Abuse (NIDA only); Substance Misuse; Social Determinants of Health; Behavioral and Social Science; Conditions Affecting the Embryonic and Fetal Periods; Tobacco Smoke and Health; Women's Health; Violence Research; Pregnancy; 2.2 Factors relating to the physical environment; Good Health and Well Being; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Canada; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Finland; Humans; Internal-External Control; Male; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Risk Factors; Smoking; Substance-Related Disorders; Addiction; adolescence; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; drug experimentation; externalizing behavior; maternal smoking; tobacco exposure; Medical and Health Sciences; Psychology and Cognitive Sciences; Substance Abuse; Northern Finland
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5vr6g6mh; https://escholarship.org/content/qt5vr6g6mh/qt5vr6g6mh.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12665

Background and aimsPrenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking (PEMCS) is associated with a higher probability of substance use in adolescence. We explore if externalizing behavior mediates this relationship, while controlling for a number of potential covariates of this mediation process.MethodsWe used data obtained in two geographically distinct community samples of adolescents. The first (cross-sectional) sample consisted of 996 adolescents (12-18 years of age) recruited from the Saguenay Youth Study (SYS) in Canada (47% with PEMCS). The second (longitudinal) sample consisted of 1141 adolescents (49% with PEMCS) from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort (NFBC1986). In both samples, externalizing behavior and substance use were assessed during adolescence. In the NFBC1986 cohort, externalizing behavior was also assessed in childhood.ResultsIn both populations, PEMCS is associated with a higher likelihood of adolescent drug experimentation. In the NFBC1986 cohort, exposed (versus non-exposed) adolescents experiment with an extra 1.27 [B = 0.24, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.15, 0.33 P < 0.001] drugs. In the SYS cohort, a clear protective effect of not being exposed is shown: non-exposed (versus exposed) adolescents are 1.5 times [B = -0.42, 95% CI = -0.75, -0.09, P = 0.013] less likely to take drugs. These associations between PEMCS and drug experimentation remain in the multivariate and mediational analyses.ConclusionsPrenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking appears to be associated with a higher probability of experimenting with drugs during adolescence, both directly and indirectly via externalizing behavior and the number of peers reported as using drugs.