Consuming weed during pregnancy could affect your male offspring’s sociability, according to new research published in eLife.
Researchers at Indiana University conducted the study on rats and found that males who were exposed to cannabinoids while in the uterus were less sociable than normal animals, and were less likely to spend time with others. However, females who were exposed to the drug while in the womb were not affected.
“These results provide compelling evidence for sex-specific effects of prenatal cannabinoid exposure,” Antonia Manduca, a Ph.D. student at the Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology and co-author of the study, wrote in a press release.
But the results found that cannabinoids did not affect males’ anxiety, motor or cognition skills.
A study published in December found that pot use by Californian moms between 2009 through 2016 increased from 4.2 percent to 7.1 percent.
“Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug during pregnancy, and its use is increasing,” researchers said.