While I was attending a Developmental Psychology course in Leiden University and reading the course book How Children Develop, I discovered an interesting scientific article where O’Connor and his colleagues (2002) were claiming the causal relation between maternal antenatal anxiety and behavioural/emotional problems in children at 4 years.
The study design included more than 7000 pregnant women living in the geographical area Avon, UK. Maternal anxiety (Crown-Crisp Index) and depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale – www.psychology-tools.com) were assessed during antenatal (18 and 32 weeks) and postnatal (8 weeks, and 8, 21 and 33 months) period. The results showed that mothers who experienced “elevated anxiety” at 32 weeks’ gestation were more than twice as likely to have children with “total behavioural and emotional problems” at 4 years of age. For boys, late antenatal anxiety was associated significantly with hyperactivity/inattention at 4 years of age. Postnatal maternal anxiety also “predicted inattention/hyperactivity at 4 years of age”, especially when maternal anxiety at 21 months postnatally was considered.
It is worth to notice that in this study the nature of the antenatal risk derived from anxiety/stress and not from depression. At a higher risk where mothers who experienced “elevated anxiety” on more than two occasions. From other studies it is known that postnatal depression, especially in early weeks and months following birth is also a risk factor for behavioural/emotional problems in children (Murray & Cooper, 1997).
Considering the fact that O’Connor and colleagues suggest that the “antenatal prediction is due to a direct causal mechanism operating in the antenatal period” and the “specific antenatal effect is noteworthy both in drawing direct parallels with previous animal research and in countering alternative explanations that the effect is due merely to reporter (parent) bias or genetic transmission”, two questions arise: 1) Through what kind of mechanisms does maternal psychological state affect the fetus? 2) Why should we rule out the possibility that women who report greater distress during pregnancy are also more likely to experience their children as temperamentally or behaviourally more difficult?
Parents like teachers (Graziano, Jensen-Campbell, & Sullivan-Logan, 1998), have expectations about the outcomes for children with different types of temperament. In turn, children’s temperament differentially affects parental responses, further modulating the development of child temperament. (Susman et al., 2001)
To recapitulate: from O’Connor’s study we learn that anxiety during the third trimester of pregnancy can have an effect on the child’s behaviour when he/she is 4 years old. Especially for boys it is associated with hyperactivity and inattention.
Are you curious to find out more about maternal stress during pregnancy and its effects? In a few days I will post more information about this interesting subject.
To be continued…
Prenatal singing can help you to deal with your anxiety
Graziano, W.G., Jensen-Campbell, L. A., & Sullivan-Logan, G.M. (1998) Temperament, activity and expectations for later personality development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1266-1277.
Murray, L., & Cooper, P. (1997) Postpartum Depression and Child Development. New York: Guildford Press.
O’Connor, T.G., Heron, J., Golding, J., Beveridge, M., & Glover, V. (2002). Maternal antenatal anxiety and children’s behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years. Report from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 502-508.
Susman, F.J., Schmeelk, K.H., Ponirakis, A., & Gariepy, J.L. (2001) Maternal prenatal, postpartum, and concurrent stressors and temperament in 3-year-olds: A person and variable analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 629-652.
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