Conduct problems among children rise in proportion to the amount of drinking their mothers did when they were pregnant, according to researcher Brian M. D'Onofrio, Ph.D., of Indiana University and colleagues.

Science Daily reported Nov. 6 that researchers found the correlation between problem behavior and perinatal drinking persisted independently of other factors, such as drug use, education level, and intellectual ability. For each day per week that women reported drinking during pregnancy, attention problems and impulsivity increased among their offspring.

Siblings exposed to more alcohol during pregnancy had more conduct problems than brothers or sisters who were exposed to less alcohol, researchers found.

"The findings thus support a strong inference that prenatal alcohol exposure causes an increased risk of offspring conduct problems through environmental processes," the authors said. "Therefore, prevention efforts should continue to target alcohol consumption during pregnancy."

The research appears in the November 2007 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.