FROM HIS STUDIES OF DELINQUENT POPULATIONS, THE WITNESS CONCLUDED THAT SOME FACTOR BEYOND ENVIRONMENTAL CIRCUMSTANCES MUST ACCOUNT FOR THE FINDING THAT SOME CHILDREN CAN ADJUST TO AND SURVIVE WITHIN DIFFICULT FAMILY SITUATIONS WHILE OTHERS TURN TO DEVIANT BEHAVIOR. AS A CONSEQUENCE, STUDIES WERE UNDERTAKEN OF PREGNANCIES THAT RESULTED IN THE BIRTHS OF DELINQUENT CHILDREN IN SCOTLAND. IT WAS FOUND THAT, WHEN AN EXPECTANT MOTHER WAS SUBJECTED DURING PREGNANCY TO SOME ONGOING STRESS OF PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, HER CHILD (ON THE AVERAGE) WAS TWICE AS LIKELY AS OTHER CHILDREN TO SUFFER HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR HANDICAPS. SITUATIONS THAT RESULTED IN THIS ADVERSE EFFECT WERE RELATED PRIMARILY TO MARITAL DISCORD (AN UNFAITHFUL OR CRUEL SPOUSE). FOR EXAMPLE, FOR WOMEN WHO WERE KEPT SHORT OF MONEY DURING THEIR PREGNANCIES WHILE THEIR HUSBANDS SPENT MONEY INDISCRIMINATELY, CHILDREN WERE NEARLY 2.5 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE DAMAGED THAN WAS THE AVERAGE CHILD IN THE SAMPLE. IN CASES OF UNWANTED PREGNANCY, WHERE THE CHILD WAS ILLEGITIMATE OR PREMARITALLY CONCEIVED, CHILDREN WERE APPROXIMATELY 44 PERCENT MORE VULNERABLE TO HANDICAP THAN WERE OTHER CHILDREN. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY FINDINGS AND OTHER PRENATAL DETERMINATIONS OF PHYSICAL AND BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN ARE DISCUSSED IN A QUESTION-AND-ANSWER SESSION. --IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH. (LKM)