How do prenatal risk factors relate to antisocial behaviors? In chapter 5, (Beaver, 2009) we are studying three environmental influences: prenatal environment influences, perinatal environmental influences, and environmental influences during infancy and early childhood.

This is my classmate’s initial posts for the assignment completed in order #513929. Please respond to their post in a constructive and thoughtful manner. I have included the question in which they answered. You don’t need to answer the question per se, just respond to my classmate’s thoughts who answered the question(Walter Lee)

How do prenatal risk factors relate to antisocial behaviors? In chapter 5, (Beaver, 2009) we are studying three environmental influences: prenatal environment influences, perinatal environmental influences, and environmental influences during infancy and early childhood.

In the prenatal environment influences period during gestation, fetal development follows a precisely timed schedule where organs form and develop at specific time periods (Beaver, 2009). A biosocial criminologist is most concerned with the development of the brain, which begins to form after conception and continues to birth. So every day what the expectant mother ingest (i.e. food, alcohol, and toxins) so too does the fetal. In the Pediatrics Journal, the article Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Childhood Behavior at Age 6 to 7 Years: I. Dose-Response Effect (Sood, et al, 2001), prenatal alcohol exposure in moderate to heavy doses has been associated with the alterations in a childs behavior.

Next, we have perinatal environmental influences, during this period, which goes from around the 7th month of pregnancy to around the 1st month of birth. As Professor Beaver Week #6 Notes ( 2020) explains one of the most notable perinatal is birth complications. There are a lot of complications that can happen during birth, but oxygen starvation is one that is very important to Biosocial Criminologist. A lack of oxygen, better known as anoxia can cause lifelong brain damage. As a discussion in earlier weeks, we learned that damage to the prefrontal cortex has possible ramifications of executive functions. If the executive functions are not working properly it will lead to antisocial behavior. Noted in their article on Perinatal Complications Predict Violent Offending (Kandel and Mednick, 1991) that it has been said that consequences of birth complications is brain damage, which causes a child to have antisocial behavior( Litt, 1972; Mungas, 1983).

Last but not least environmental influences during infancy and early childhood the cerebrum continues to come about. During this period the way a maternal mother rears her child can have an effect on the childs behavior. In a study by Jianghong Liu and colleagues 3-year-old malnourished subjects were compared with 3-year-old non-malnourished subjects, the results from the study yielded that the malnourished subjects were more aggressive than the non-malnourished subjects. (Beaver, 2009)

With this empirical research data, we are able to create prevention programs that aid and assist mothers, fathers, siblings, and other family members on the dangers to the fetus, newborn, infants, and toddlers during the three environmental influences periods that were just discussed above.