{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]],"date-time":"2026-03-03T06:01:18Z","timestamp":1772517678828,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,28]],"date-time":"2026-02-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772236800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Children\u2019s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center","award":["P01 ES022848"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P01 ES022848"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000139","name":"U.S. Environmental Protection Agency","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["RD83543401"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RD83543401"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000139","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program","award":["OD023272"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["OD023272"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: Few studies have examined gestational paraben exposure and early childhood neurodevelopment. We evaluated associations between gestational exposure to methyl, ethyl and propyl paraben and neurodevelopment via the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) administered at ages 2, 3, and 4 years. (2) Methods: Gestational exposures were assessed using pooled prenatal urine samples from five time points across pregnancy. CBCL outcomes included internalizing, externalizing, and sub-scale scores. Covariate-adjusted generalized linear regression was employed to assess individual paraben exposures. Mixture analysis was performed using Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression and Quantile g-computation. (3) Results: In individual paraben analyses, each paraben was associated with increased externalizing behaviors, particularly ethylparaben (age 2: \u03b2 = 0.40, 95% CI = \u22120.02, 0.83; age 3: \u03b2 = 0.42, 95% CI = \u22120.19, 0.01; age 4: \u03b2 = 0.18, 95% CI = \u22120.34, 0.70), ADHD problems at age 2 (\u03b2 = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.37), and both aggressive behavior (\u03b2 = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.74) and oppositional defiant problems (\u03b2 = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.41) at age 3. All three parabens were also associated with a reduction in withdrawn symptoms for males, especially at age 2 (ethylparaben: \u03b2 = \u22120.09, 95% CI = \u22120.01, 0.85; methylparaben: \u03b2 = \u22120.20, 95% CI = \u22120.34, \u22120.05; propylparaben: \u03b2 = \u22120.13, 95% CI = \u22120.24, \u22120.03). The parabens mixture was associated with elevated scores in multiple CBCL subscales, though only association with oppositional defiant scores at age 3 reached significance in both BKMR (change in score when all components are at 50th percentile values compared with their 75th percentile values = 0.15; 95% CI = 0.01, 0.29) and quantile g-computation (\u03b2 = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.02, 0.65), driven primarily by ethylparaben. (4) Conclusions: Individual parabens and the paraben mixture showed significant association with domains of childhood neurodevelopment, with possible detriments especially evident (a) at earlier time points, (b) in male children, and (c) in terms of externalizing behaviors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxics14030211","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,2]],"date-time":"2026-03-02T10:24:34Z","timestamp":1772447074000},"page":"211","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Associations of Exposure to Parabens During Pregnancy with Behavior in Early Childhood"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Megan L.","family":"Woodbury","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-5958-2645","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicholas G.","family":"Cragoe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Susan L.","family":"Schantz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133781","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chemosphere.2022.133781","article-title":"The Curious Case of Methylparaben: Anthropogenic Contaminant or Natural Origin?","volume":"294","year":"2022","journal-title":"Chemosphere"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.2478\/acph-2021-0001","article-title":"The Controversies of Parabens\u2014An Overview Nowadays","volume":"71","author":"Petric","year":"2021","journal-title":"Acta Pharm."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1097\/DER.0000000000000428","article-title":"Paraben Toxicology","volume":"30","author":"Fransway","year":"2019","journal-title":"Dermatitis"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1988","DOI":"10.1002\/tox.23545","article-title":"Embryonic Exposure to Butylparaben and Propylparaben Induced Developmental Toxicity and Triggered Anxiety-like Neurobehavioral Response Associated with Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in the Head of Zebrafish Larvae","volume":"37","author":"Lite","year":"2022","journal-title":"Environ. 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