Abstract
Accumulating evidence indicates that prenatal maternal and fetal processes can have a lasting influence on infant and child development. Results from animal models indicate that prenatal exposure to maternal stress and stress hormones has lasting consequences for development of the offspring. Few prospective studies of human pregnancy have examined the consequences of prenatal exposure to stress and stress hormones. In this study the effects of prenatal maternal psychosocial (anxiety, depression, and perceived stress) and endocrine (cortisol) indicators of stress on infant temperament were examined in a sample of 247 full-term infants. Maternal salivary cortisol and psychological state were evaluated at 18-20, 24-26, and 30-32 weeks of gestation and at 2 months postpartum. Infant temperament was assessed with a measure of negative reactivity (the fear subscale of the Infant Temperament Questionnaire) at 2 months of age. Elevated maternal cortisol at 30-32 weeks of gestation, but not earlier in pregnancy, was significantly associated with greater maternal report of infant negative reactivity. Prenatal maternal anxiety and depression additionally predicted infant temperament. The associations between maternal cortisol and maternal depression remained after controlling for postnatal maternal psychological state. These data suggest that prenatal exposure to maternal stress has consequences for the development of infant temperament.
Highlights
Accumulating evidence indicates that prenatal maternal and fetal processes can have a lasting influence on infant and child development
Data indicate that maternal cortisol levels during the third trimester of pregnancy predict maternal report of increased negative reactivity during infancy
The impact of prenatal exposure to maternal depression and cortisol on maternal report of increased negative reactivity is consistent with the hypothesis that the prenatal environment exerts programming effects on the fetus with consequences for infant behavior (Barker et al, 2002; Welberg and Seckl, 2001)
Summary
Participants in this study included 247 women with singleton term pregnancies who were recruited serially between 1999 and 2003 from two obstetric clinics in southern California before 18 weeks of gestation. Forty-nine percent of the women were non-Hispanic white, 20% were Hispanic white, 11% were African American, and 9% were Asian The infants of these women (118 girls and 129 boys) were assessed at 8 weeks of age (SD 2.2 weeks). All of the infants were born at term (mean GA 39.5 weeks, SD 1.1 weeks; mean weight 3,535 g, SD 509 g), and 71% were delivered vaginally Infants in this sample were stable at the time of delivery and had a median 5-minute Apgar score of 9 (range 7Y10). Removing participants who reported any alcohol use during pregnancy did not alter any of the findings described in the Results section
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