Is There an Increased Risk of Criminal Behavior Among Children Who Were In Utero When Their Mothers Were Exposed to Increased Alcohol Availability? A Register-Based Study Using a Natural Experiment Setting.

Increased alcohol availability influences drinking behavior; however, little is known about the effect of availability changes on subsequent generations. This study examined whether exposure to increased alcohol availability while pregnant is associated with criminal behavior in subsequent generations.A register-linked study was conducted using data from a natural experiment setting, including 363,207 children born between 1965 and 1971. During 1967/68, strong beer became temporarily available in grocery stores instead of state-owned monopoly stores only, for individuals less than 21 years of age, in two regions of Sweden. Children born in regions exposed to the policy change were compared with children born elsewhere in Sweden (excluding a border area), children born before 1967, and children conceived after 1968. Information on criminal outcomes was obtained from the National Register of Criminal Convictions. Follow-up was from age 15 to 42 years. Hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Cox regression analysis.Compared with the unexposed cohorts, children conceived by young mothers before the policy change but exposed to the change in utero did not appear to be at an increased risk of being convicted of a violent crime, theft, or drunk driving later in life. Similar patterns of results were found among children conceived by older mothers.Using data from a natural experiment setting, no consistent evidence was found that being exposed to increased alcohol availability while pregnant increased the risk of having a child who would be convicted of a crime later in life.