Maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring personality in childhood and adulthood.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) has been associated with offspring internalizing and externalizing disorders. The purpose of this research is to examine whether MSDP is also associated with variations in normal personality traits in childhood and adulthood.

Method

This study uses four independent samples (total N = 16,323) to examine whether there are mean-level differences in offspring personality traits by MSDP, controlling for relevant sociodemographic factors. Two samples are of children (Ns = 3,782 and 3,841) and two samples are of adults (Ns = 1,786 and 6,914).

Results

A meta-analysis across the four samples indicated that offspring of mothers who did smoke during pregnancy scored higher in Neuroticism (p = .000) and Extraversion (p = .003) an

SUBMITTER: Sutin AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5817044 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature