Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Jan-Feb;31(1):71-84.
doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsj025. Epub 2005 Apr 12.

Aggression at age 5 as a function of prenatal exposure to cocaine, gender, and environmental risk

Margaret Bendersky  1 , David Bennett, Michael Lewis
Affiliations

Aggression at age 5 as a function of prenatal exposure to cocaine, gender, and environmental risk

Margaret Bendersky et al. J Pediatr Psychol. 2006 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To examine childhood aggression at age 5 in a multiple risk model that includes cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and gender as predictors.

Methods: Aggression was assessed in 206 children by using multiple methods including teacher report, parent report, child's response to hypothetical provocations, and child's observed behavior. Also examined was a composite score that reflected high aggression across contexts.

Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that a significant amount of variance in each of the aggression measures and the composite was explained by the predictors. The variables that were independently related differed depending on the outcome. Cocaine exposure, gender, and environmental risk were all related to the composite aggression score.

Conclusions: Cocaine exposure, being male, and a high-risk environment were all predictive of aggressive behavior at 5 years. It is this group of exposed boys at high environmental risk that is most likely to show continued aggression over time.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Accornero VH, Morrow CE, Bandstra ES, Johnson AL, Anthony JC. Behavioral outcome of preschoolers exposed prenatally to cocaine: Role of maternal behavioral health. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 2002;27:259–269. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–18 and 1991 Profile Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.
    1. Achenbach TM, McConaughy SH, Howell CT. Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin. 1987;101:213–232. - PubMed
    1. Anderson C, Bushman B. Human aggression. Annual Review Psychology. 2002;53:27–51. - PubMed
    1. Anderson-Brown T, Slotkin TA, Seidler FJ. Cocaine acutely inhibits DNA synthesis in developing rat brain regions: Evidence for direct actions. Brain Research. 1990;537:197–202. - PubMed

Publication types