Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine on Fetal Development and...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is associated with numerous adverse outcomes in offspring, such as cognitive problems (Batty et al. 2006; Gilman et al. 2008a, b) and criminal behavior (D’Onofrio et al. 2010a, b; Brennan et al. 2002; Wakschlag et al. 2002). These associations are often attributed to the causal effects of teratogenic insults on the developing offspring (for reviews, see Wakschlag et al. 2002; Cornelius and Day 2009). Several lines of evidence support this causal inference, as animal models have suggested neural mechanisms (e.g., interference with cell proliferation and growth; Guerri 1998) by which neurodevelopmental effects may occur (Nordberg et al. 1991); dose-dependent effects have been found in which greater†¦show more content†¦2012; Agrawal et al. 2008; D’Onofrio et al. 2003). Co-occurring environmental and genetic factors may, therefore, confound the association between maternal substance use during pregnancy and offspring functio ning. In addition to genetic and postnatal environmental risk factors, maternal SDP co-occurs with prenatal exposure to other drugs that also are associated with adverse offspring outcomes (for review, see Huizink and Mulder 2006). For example, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with psychological offspring outcomes, such as cognitive functioning (Mattson et al. 1997) and childhood externalizing outcomes (D’Onofrio et al. 2007; Disney et al. 2008). Although SDP co-occurs with use of other substances of abuse, many studies have not taken into account prenatal exposure to other substances when investigating the effects of maternal SDP in offspring. The need to account for such exposure is highlighted, however, by quasi-experimental studies on the effects of PAE (Gray et al. 2009), the results from which suggest that the associations between PAE and offspring functioning remain after controlling for specific confounds (e.g., parental externalzing behavior; Disney et al. 2008 ; Knopik et al. 2009) and general confounds (e.g., in a sibling-comparison study; D’Onofrio et al. 2007). Most studies of SDP on offspring outcomes have controlled for specific, measured confounds (e.g., parental education) and have yielded robust,Show MoreRelatedPsy 244 Essay10464 Words   |  42 Pagesthese changes c. to explain how and why they occur (e.g., how and why they occur in a certain order, or sequence, and at certain times rather than at other times) d. all of the above are parts of the basic task II. History of the Study of Development A. Ancient Greece and Rome 1. In his treatise, Gynecology, the Greek physician Soranus gave careful instructions for how infants should be swaddled: in soft cloths and strips of fabric from the head to the very tip of the toes. What was