factors. Results from these studies suggest that some associations suggested between maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and offspring behavioral outcomes, a common finding in the larger literature, may indeed be influenced by design limitations, specifically an inability to adequately control for shared familial influences, including genetic factors. This has been shown for offspring conduct problems (D’Onofrio, et al., 2008), criminality (D’Onofrio, Singh, Iliadou, Lambe, Hultman, Grann, et al., 2010), academic achievement (D’Onofrio, Singh, Iliadou, Lambe, Hultman, Neiderhiser, et al., 2010; Lambe, et al., 2006), intellectual performance (Lundberg et al., 2009) and ADHD (Knopik, et al., 2010; Thapar, et al., 2009). Thus, the suggestion that maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy is exclusively responsible for a broad range of later offspring behavioral outcomes must be tempered and reconsidered in light of these recent findings across multiple research groups.
