New Delhi, India
New research has established the link between the stress and anxiety levels noted in mothers during pregnancy and the behavioural issues in the children.
The study, published by the American Psychological Association, has revealed that children whose mothers experience increased levels of stress during pregnancy exhibit aggressive behaviour and lack mental well-being during their childhood and teen years.
“Our research suggests that psychological distress during the pregnancy period has a small but persistent effect on children’s risk for aggressive, disinhibited and impulsive behaviours,” said study author Irene Tung, PhD, of California State University, Dominguez Hills.
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“These findings add to the evidence that providing widely accessible mental health care and support during pregnancy may be a critical step to help prevent childhood behavior problems.”
The research was conducted after analysing data from 55 studies, which included more than 45,000 participants in total.
In this study, researchers specifically examined instances where mothers' psychological distress was assessed during and after pregnancy.
They discovered that, even when accounting for later postnatal distress, experiencing distress during pregnancy heightened the risk of children developing externalising problems.
This effect remained consistent for both boys and girls and across different age groups: early childhood (2–5), middle childhood (6–12), and adolescence (13–18), with the strongest impact observed in early childhood.
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The results align with theories proposing that exposure to stress hormones in utero can influence children's brain development, as noted by the researchers.
Moving forward, Tung recommended that future research focuses on diversifying samples to explore cultural and socioeconomic factors influencing prenatal stress and to develop effective interventions.
“Most existing research has focused on white, middle-class and higher educated samples. But experiences of racism, economic disparities and lack of health care access are known contributors to stress during pregnancy. Understanding how psychological distress during pregnancy impacts underrepresented families is key to developing equitable public health policies and interventions,” she said.
(With inputs from agencies)