Prenatal smoking and genetic risk factors could predict behavioral problems in children, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Sam Houston State University in Texas found that an interaction between prenatal smoking and genetic risk factors increase aggressive behavior in children, especially in girls.

"The interesting issue is that not all children exposed to prenatal smoking will have behavioral problems. Some might, but others will not," Brian Boutwell, senior author on the study and assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice, said in a statement. "One possible explanation for this is that the effect of prenatal smoke exposure depends on the presence of 'triggering influence; in this case, we investigated whether genetic risk factors might act as just such a trigger."

For the study, researchers collected from a nationally representative sample of 1,600 twins, including identical and fraternal pairs, during early childhood.

Based on their findings, children exposed to prenatal smoking, and who also had an increased genetic propensity for antisocial behavior, exhibited the most pronounced conduct problems during childhood. Interestingly, this gene-environment interaction was most pronounced in females.

Researchers found that genetic risk factors increase behavioral problems in children, the influence of genetic risk factors on behavior problems were most pronounced for children exposed to prenatal smoking. They also found that prenatal maternal smoking, when taken in isolation, did not appear to directly result in behavioral problems and that the interaction between genetic factors and prenatal smoking was isolated to females.

The findings underscore the link between genetic factors and antisocial behaviors. While most research focuses on environmental factors, such as the family and neighborhoods, it is important to explore alternative environments, such as prenatal experiences, to gain a better understanding of the origins of problem behaviors, Boutwell said.

"Social scientists have spent decades looking at what happens with parents and the family to try and determine why some children develop behavioral problems and others don't," Boutwell said. "While we are not saying that family environments are completely unimportant, environmental experiences encompass far more than just parenting. It is possible, in fact, than other environmental experiences may matter just as much, and perhaps more in some cases, for development than simply what happens inside the home between parents and children."