Children’s behavioral issues are connected to high levels of maternal stress during pregnancy.

Source: American Psychological Association

Summary: Pregnant women who experience extreme stress, anxiety, or depression may put their unborn children at greater risk of developing mental health problems and behavioral problems as children and teenagers.

Tung and associates examined information from 55 studies, including almost 45,000 people in total. Each study assessed the psychological distress that expectant mothers experienced, such as stress, depression, or anxiety, and then examined the “externalizing behaviors”—outwardly directed mental health symptoms like aggression or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder—that their offspring exhibited.

According to parents, children born to pregnant women with higher levels of stress were more likely to behave aggressively.

Research has long suggested a link between pregnant women’s mental health and their child’s externalizing tendencies. However, in many previous studies, the effects of stress, anxiety, or depression during pregnancy have not been separated from the consequences of parents’ psychological distress after childbirth.

The only studies that the researchers included in this analysis assessed mothers’ psychological discomfort both during and after pregnancy. They discovered that psychological anguish during pregnancy, in particular, raised the chance of externalizing disorders in children, even after adjusting for postnatal psychological distress.

Whichever youngsters were involved—boys or girls—the effect was the same. It also remained true for kids in middle childhood (ages 6–12), adolescence (ages 13–18), and early childhood (ages 2–5), with the biggest influence occurring in the former.

The results corroborate notions that stress hormone exposure during pregnancy may impact a developing child’s brain.

According to Tung, future studies should concentrate on broadening their scope in order to comprehend the cultural and socioeconomic factors that influence perinatal stress and to create successful therapies.

“Most existing research has focused on white, middle-class, and higher-educated samples. But experiences of racism, economic disparities, and a 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.

She and her colleagues are now conducting two studies focused on understanding the types of support and resources that promote resilience and recovery from stress during pregnancy, particularly for families facing health inequities. The goal is to inform culturally inclusive preventive interventions during pregnancy to help support early mental health resilience and well-being for parents and their children.