Description

Experiencing feelings of stress, depression or anxiety during pregnancy is common. In recent years it has been suggested that emotional distress experienced during pregnancy can have a detrimental effect on the developing foetus, impacting brain development and causing children to exhibit behavioural and emotional problems in childhood. ​But what evidence is there to support this idea? Are there alternative explanations for links between emotional distress experienced during pregnancy and child problems? How could we know if stress during pregnancy does cause problems for the child?

Learning Objectives

A. To understand links between maternal emotional distress during pregnancy and child behavioural and emotional problems. 

B. To understand a range of possible explanations for such associations

C. To understand how researchers use family-based research methods to distinguish these possibilities

Related Content Links

Effects of parental depression on their offspring's mental health
Interplay between maternal depressive symptoms and child inhibitory control