Gestational Exposure to Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Social Skills and Problem Behaviors in Adolescents: The HOME Study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are persistent environmental pollutants used as flame retardants in consumer products. Gestational PBDE exposure has been associated with a variety of behavior problems in children, but little is known about its impact into adolescence, particularly on social skills, which are important for achieving social competence, establishing identity, and forming lasting relationships. We investigated the association between gestational exposure to PBDEs and social skills and problem behaviors in adolescence in a longitudinal pregnancy and birth cohort in Cincinnati, Ohio (recruited 2003-2006). METHODS: We measured maternal serum concentrations of PBDE congeners, creating a summary exposure variable during pregnancy (∑5PBDE: the sum of PBDEs 28, 47, 99, 100, and 153). At age 12, we collected self-reported and caregiver-reported social skills and problem behaviors for 243 adolescents using the Social Skills Improvement System (SSiS). Higher scores on the SSiS indicate better social skills and more problem behaviors. We used multivariable linear regression models to estimate associations between maternal PBDE concentrations and SSiS outcomes, controlling for potential covariates. RESULTS:We found sex-specific associations of ∑5PBDE concentrations with adolescent-reported Problem Behaviors (∑5PBDE x sex p-int=0.02) and caregiver-reported Social Skills (∑5PBDE x sex p-int=0.02) despite similar ∑5PBDE exposures (Male GM=4.70, GSE=1.04; Female GM=4.97, GSE=1.04). In sex-stratified models, a 10-fold increase in maternal ∑5PBDE concentration among males was associated with decreased caregiver-reported Social Skills composite score (β=10.2, 95% CI: -19.5, -1.0), increased adolescent-reported Problem Behaviors composite score (β=12.1, 95% CI: 5.4, 18.8), and increased caregiver-reported Problem Behaviors composite score (β=6, 95% CI: 0.1, 11.7). Further analysis on SSiS subscales revealed similar patterns in significant associations among males. There were no statistically significant associations in stratified models among females. CONCLUSIONS:Exposure to PBDEs during gestation was associated with decreased social skills and increased problem behaviors among adolescent males in this cohort. KEYWORDS: Chemical Exposures, Children's Environmental Health, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, Male, Neurodevelopmental Outcomes
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".