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Weed Use During Pregnancy Triples Risk Of Behavioral Problems In Kids

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 13, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 13, 2025 -- Some women turn to weed during pregnancy to help deal with common issues like nausea, sleep problem and stress.

Unfortunately, they could be endangering their unborn child’s future behavior, a new study says.

Women who use cannabis either during pregnancy or after delivery are three times more likely to have kids with disruptive behavioral problems, researchers reported.

These kids were more likely to be hostile toward authority figures, act in disobedient ways and behave aggressively toward others, researchers said.

Women who used marijuana during pregnancy were three and a half times more likely to report behavioral problems as their child grew, according to results recently published in the journal Psychiatry Research.

Using cannabis after a baby’s birth also influenced development, increasing a child’s risk of behavioral disorders nearly threefold, researchers said.

“Cannabinoid ingredients can cross the placenta and enter breast milk, potentially affecting brain development,” senior researcher Rosa Alati, head of population health at Curtin University in Australia, said in a news release. “This research provides critical evidence to help shape health policies aimed at minimizing harm.”

The findings jibe with earlier studies that have linked weed use during pregnancy with developmental issues.

For example, an October 2024 study in JAMA Pediatrics linked cannabis exposure in the womb to poorer thinking skills and behavioral problems like poor impulse control and attention as well as aggressive behavior.

For the new study, researchers analyzed records on more than 222,000 pregnancies in New South Wales, Australia, between 2003 and 2005.

The team tracked the children of mothers who used cannabis to see if they were diagnosed with behavioral problems at a greater rate than the kids of moms who didn’t use weed.

“We found children of mothers with cannabis use disorder were at a significantly higher risk of developing behavioral issues such as oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder,” lead researcher Abay Tadesse, a doctoral student at Curtin University, said in a news release.

“Our research showed maternal cannabis use during pregnancy increased the risk of disruptive behavioral disorders by 3.56 times, while postnatal use increased the risk by 2.95 times,” Tadesse said.

More research is needed to better understand the link between a mom’s cannabis use and her child’s subsequent behavioral problems, Alati concluded.

Sources

  • Curtin University, news release, March 5, 2025

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted March 2025

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