Preadolescent health risk behavior as a function of prenatal cocaine exposure and gender

Objective: To examine the effect of prenatal cocaine exposure on health risk behaviors during preadolescence. Methods: The present study examined prenatal cocaine exposure, gender, and environmental risk as predictors of self-reported substance use, aggression, and a disregard for safety precautions on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in a sample of 10.5 year olds (n = 154, including 60 who were prenatally exposed to cocaine). Results: Gender tended to moderate the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure because exposure effects were found for boys but not girls. Boys who were prenatally exposed to cocaine reported engaging in more high-risk behavior. In examining individual outcomes, cocaine exposed boys had the highest scores for aggression, substance use, and a disregard for safety precautions, although these differences were significant only for the composite health risk behavior measure. Conclusions: The findings extend earlier work showing that prenatal cocaine exposure places boys at risk for problems of inhibitory control, emotional regulation, and antisocial behavior. Research is needed to examine whether the effects of prenatal cocaine on health risk behaviors persist into adolescence, when such behaviors tend to increase.