# Child Behavioral Scores Correlate With Prenatal Tobacco and Marijuana Exposure, Sociodemographic Variables and Interactions of Default Mode and Dorsal Attention Networks

## TL;DR

Prenatal tobacco and marijuana exposure, along with low income and food insecurity, are linked to worse child behavior and brain network changes.

## Contribution

This study identifies specific behavioral and neural network associations with prenatal exposure and sociodemographic factors.

## Key findings

- Prenatal tobacco exposure is linked to increased connectivity between the default mode and dorsal attention networks.
- Lower household income and food insecurity correlate with worse child behavioral scores.
- Five CBCL scales are associated with differences in functional network connectivity.

## Abstract

Prenatal substance exposure is an increasing problem that has been linked to multiple neurodevelopmental impairments and alterations to brain functional connectivity.

Behavioral scores and functional network correlation data were obtained from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM (ABCD) Study. First, behavioral scores based on the child behavioral checklist were tested for associations with prenatal exposure to several substances along with demographic data. Then differences in resting‐state functional networks were assessed based on prenatal substance exposure. Third, we assessed the impact of resting‐state functional networks on behavioral scores. A linear regression was used for all these analyses, and a false discovery rate < 0.05 was considered significant.

Based on the selection criteria, 6674 subjects were included in the analysis. Prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE), prenatal marijuana exposure, household income, and food insecurity were associated with worse behavioral scores. Additionally, PTE was significantly associated with increased connectivity between the default mode network (DMN) and dorsal attention network (DAN) and decreased intra‐network connectivity within the DAN. Finally, there were five CBCL scales that were associated with differences in network connectivity.

Taken together, these results suggest PTE to be associated with multiple functional networks, including those associated with several CBCL scales.

This secondary analysis of data from 6674 subjects from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM (ABCD) repository revealed prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE), prenatal marijuana exposure, household income and food insecurity to be associated wtih worse scores on the child behavioral checklist (CBCL). PTE was significantly associated with increased connectivity between the default mode network (DMN) and dorsal attention network (DAN) and decreased intra‐network connectivity within the DAN. There were five CBCL scales that were associated with differences in network connectivity.