Teenage childbirth and young adult criminal convictions: A quasi-experimental study of criminal outcomes for teenage mothers.

Purpose: Teenage childbirth is associated with poor psychosocial outcomes for teen mothers. One example is that teen mothers have higher rates of antisocial behavior. The extant research has not been able to determine if teenage motherhood is independently associated with criminal behavior, or if the association is due to selection factors associated with both teenage childbirth and criminal behavior.

Critical need for family-based, quasi-experimental designs in integrating genetic and social science research.

Researchers have identified environmental risks that predict subsequent psychological and medical problems. Based on these correlational findings, researchers have developed and tested complex developmental models and have examined biological moderating factors (e.g.

Language ability predicts the development of behavior problems in children.

Prior studies have suggested, but not fully established, that language ability is important for regulating attention and behavior. Language ability may have implications for understanding attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorders, as well as subclinical problems. This article reports findings from two longitudinal studies to test (a) whether language ability has an independent effect on behavior problems, and (b) the direction of effect between language ability and behavior problems.

Maternal stress and infant mortality: the importance of the preconception period.

Although preconception and prenatal maternal stress are associated with adverse outcomes in birth and childhood, their relation to infant mortality remains uncertain. We used logistic regression to study infant mortality risk following maternal stress within a population-based sample of infants born in Sweden between 1973 and 2008 (N = 3,055,361). Preconception (6-0 months before conception) and prenatal (between conception and birth) stress were defined as death of a first-degree relative of the mother.

The association between teenage motherhood and poor offspring outcomes: a national cohort study across 30 years.

Teenage motherhood is associated with poor offspring outcomes but these associations may be influenced by offspring birth year because of substantial social changes in recent decades. Existing research also has not examined whether these associations are due to the specific effect of mother's age at childbirth or factors shared by siblings in a family. We used a population-based cohort study in Sweden comprising all children born from 1960 to 1989 (N = 3,162,239), and a subsample of siblings differentially exposed to maternal teenage childbearing (N = 485,259) to address these limitations.

Maternal age at first birth and offspring criminality: using the children of twins design to test causal hypotheses.

Teenage childbirth is a risk factor for poor offspring outcomes, particularly offspring antisocial behavior. It is not clear, however, if maternal age at first birth (MAFB) is causally associated with offspring antisocial behavior or if this association is due to selection factors that influence both the likelihood that a young woman gives birth early and that her offspring engage in antisocial behavior. The current study addresses the limitations of previous research by using longitudinal data from Swedish national registries and children of siblings and children of twins comparisons to identify the extent to which the association between MAFB and offspring criminal convictions is consistent with a causal influence and confounded by genetic or environmental factors that make cousins similar.

Childhood behavior problems and adolescent sexual risk behavior: familial confounding in the child and adolescent twin study in Sweden (CATSS).

Objective: Previous studies have found associations between childhood behavior problems and adolescent sexual risk behavior. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we examined the extent to which this association may be due to between-family differences (i.e.

Familial confounding of the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring substance use and problems.

Context: Previous epidemiological, animal, and human cognitive neuroscience research suggests that maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) causes increased risk of substance use/problems in offspring.

Objective: To determine the extent to which the association between SDP and offspring substance use/problems depends on confounded familial background factors by using a quasi-experimental design.

Design: We used 2 separate samples from the United States and Sweden.

Offspring ADHD as a risk factor for parental marital problems: controls for genetic and environmental confounds.

Background: Previous studies have found that child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with more parental marital problems. However, the reasons for this association are unclear. The association might be due to genetic or environmental confounds that contribute to both marital problems and ADHD.

Effects of multiple maternal relationship transitions on offspring antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence: a cousin-comparison analysis.

Previous studies of the association between multiple parental relationship transitions (i.e., when a parent begins or terminates an intimate relationship involving cohabitation) and offspring antisocial behavior have varied in their efforts to rule out confounding influences, such as parental antisocial behavior and low income.

Advancing paternal age and offspring violent offending: a sibling-comparison study.

Children born to older fathers are at higher risk to develop severe psychopathology (e.g., schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), possibly because of increased de novo mutations during spermatogenesis with older paternal age.

Why does early sexual intercourse predict subsequent maladjustment? Exploring potential familial confounds.

Objective: Previous studies have found an association between early age at first sexual intercourse and subsequent psychosocial maladjustment. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we examined the extent to which this observed association may be due to familial confounds not explored in prior research.

Methods: Using a population-based cohort of Swedish adult twins (ages 19-47; N = 12,126), we examined the nature of the association between early sexual intercourse (i.

Current parental depression and offspring perceived self-competence: a quasi-experimental examination.

A genetically-informed, quasi-experimental design was used to examine the genetic and environmental processes underlying associations between current parental depressive symptoms and offspring perceived self-competence. Participants, drawn from a population-based Swedish sample, were 852 twin pairs and their male (52 %) and female offspring aged 15.7 ± 2.

Some (but not much) progress toward understanding teenage childbearing: a review of research from the past decade.

In the decade and a half since Coley and Chase-Lansdale's (1998) review of teenage childbearing, there have been a number of studies investigating teenage childbearing from a developmental psychological perspective. Many of these studies have focused primarily on identifying individual, familial, and socioeconomic risk factors in childhood and adolescence that are highly correlated with teenage sexual behavior and teenage childbearing. We have an emerging understanding of teenage childbearing as the culmination of a complex cascade of experiences and decisions that overlap greatly with the risks for antisocial behavior.

Testing putative causal associations of risk factors for early intercourse in the study of twin adults: genes and environment (STAGE).

Adverse childhood experiences and substance use have been identified as potential causal risk factors for early-onset sexual intercourse. While it is possible that exposure to these risk factors directly increases the likelihood of engaging in early intercourse, an alternative explanation is that observed associations between these variables are due to shared familial confounds. These unmeasured confounds may increase the likelihood of being exposed to these risk factors and of engaging in early intercourse.

Effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on offspring blood pressure in late adolescence.

Objectives: Previous studies suggest that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with elevated offspring blood pressure during childhood. We aimed to investigate whether this association remained in late adolescence and, if so, whether it could be attributed to an intrauterine effect or to familial confounding.

Methods: We used a national cohort of 87,223 young Swedish men born between 1983 and 1988 with information on both maternal smoking during pregnancy and blood pressure at military conscription.

Disentangling the relationships between maternal smoking during pregnancy and co-occurring risk factors.

Background: Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) has been studied extensively as a risk factor for adverse offspring outcomes and is known to co-occur with other familial risk factors. Accounting for general familial risk factors has attenuated associations between SDP and adverse offspring outcomes, and identifying these confounds will be crucial to elucidating the relationship between SDP and its psychological correlates.

Method: The current study aimed to disentangle the relationship between maternal SDP and co-occurring risk factors (maternal criminal activity, drug problems, teen pregnancy, educational attainment, and cohabitation at childbirth) using a population-based sample of full- (n=206 313) and half-sister pairs (n=19 363) from Sweden.

Is maternal smoking during pregnancy a causal environmental risk factor for adolescent antisocial behavior? Testing etiological theories and assumptions.

Background: Although many studies indicate that maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is correlated with later offspring antisocial behavior (ASB), recent quasi-experimental studies suggest that background familial factors confound the association. The present study sought to test alternative etiological hypotheses using multiple indices of adolescent ASB, comparing differentially exposed siblings, and testing assumptions in the sibling-comparison design.

Method: The study examined the association between maternal SDP and adolescent-reported ASB, criminal convictions and membership in a group of individuals with early-starting and chronic ASB among 6066 offspring of women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a representative sample of women in the USA.

A quasi-experimental analysis of the influence of neighborhood disadvantage on child and adolescent conduct problems.

A quasi-experimental comparison of cousins differentially exposed to levels of neighborhood disadvantage (ND) was used with extensive measured covariates to test the hypothesis that neighborhood risk has independent effects on youth conduct problems (CPs). Multilevel analyses were based on mother-rated ND and both mother-reported CPs across 4-13 years (n = 7,077) and youth-reported CPs across 10-13 years (n = 4,524) from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. ND was robustly related to CPs reported by both informants when controlling for both measured risk factors that are correlated with ND and unmeasured confounds.

Poor school performance in offspring of patients with schizophrenia: what are the mechanisms?

Background: Offspring of patients with schizophrenia exhibit poorer school performance compared with offspring of non-schizophrenic parents. We aimed to elucidate the mechanisms behind this association.

Method: We linked longitudinal national population registers in Sweden and compared school performance among offspring of schizophrenic parents with offspring of non-schizophrenic parents (1 439 215 individuals with final grades from compulsory school 1988-2006).

Timing of prenatal maternal exposure to severe life events and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a population study of 2.6 million pregnancies.

Objective: To identify the impact of timing of prenatal stress exposure on offspring risk for shortened gestational age, preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW), and small for gestational age (SGA), using a population-based sample.

Methods: Swedish longitudinal population registries were linked to study all individuals born in Sweden from 1973 to 2004. Prenatal maternal stress exposure was defined as death of the father of the child or first-degree relative of the mother.

Parental criticism and externalizing behavior problems in adolescents: the role of environment and genotype-environment correlation.

Genetic factors are important for the association between parental negativity and child problem behavior, but it is not clear whether this is due to passive or evocative genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In this study, we applied the extended children-of-twins model to directly examine the presence of passive and evocative rGE as well as direct environmental effects in the association between parental criticism and adolescent externalizing problem behavior. The cross-sectional data come from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden (N = 909 pairs of adult twins) and from the Twin Study of Child and Adolescent Development (N = 915 pairs of twin children).

A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment.

Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and offspring psychopathology. Participants were 867 twin pairs (388 monozygotic; 479 dizygotic) from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden, their spouses, and children (51.