Publication year
2011
Citation Title
Prenatal maternal stress programs infant stress regulation.
Journal Name
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Journal Volume
52
Issue Number
2
Page Numbers
119-129
DOI
10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02314.x
Summary
Whether prenatal maternal psychosocial stress and cortisol (a biological indicator of stress) exerts a joint or independent influence on infant stress regulation was examined. Mothers completed measures of stress, anxiety, and depression during pregnancy, and provided cortisol assays. Infants were assessed in terms of their stress regulation following a heel-stick procedure (i.e., drawing blood from the heel), and through cortisol assays. Results suggest that exposure to maternal cortisol and psychosocial stress negatively influences infant stress regulation.
Key Findings
Mothers with high cortisol in early pregnancy had infants who displayed slower behavioral recovery from the stress of the heel-stick procedure.
Elevated maternal cortisol during pregnancy was related to a larger increase in cortisol response in infants during the heelstick procedure.
Mothers who reported high levels of perceived stress, anxiety, and depression throughout pregnancy had infants who were slower to recover from the stress of the heel-stick.
Implications for Military Professionals
Collaborate with organizations connected with military parents to emphasize the importance of stress management as part of prenatal care
Attend trainings about infant health to enhance their ability to provide support to military families who are expecting a new baby
Implications for Program Leaders
Offer curriculum focused on coping strategies for pregnant mothers experiencing deployment-related and other stressors
Continue to support programs that address the unique challenges faced by deployed mothers
Implications for Policy Makers
Recommend that programs integrate regular stress (depression and anxiety) screenings into prenatal care and as well as new parent programs
Continue to support programming aimed at pregnant mothers with a spouse experiencing deployment
Methods
Data were collected from mother-newborn pairs who were recruited from obstetric clinics in California as part of a larger, longitudinal study.
Prenatal medical history was obtained from structured interviews and review of clinic and hospital records.
To gather data, trajectories of baseline cortisol in pregnant mothers were tracked over time and behavioral observations were conducted of infant recovery from stress following a heel-stick procedure. Cortisol assays were taken from both mothers and infants and surveys of perceived stress, anxiety, and depression were taken from mothers during pregnancy.
For mothers, data were gathered at five intervals during pregnancy; for infants, data were gathered between 13 and 35 hours after birth.
Participants
One hundred sixteen full term infants (average age = 39 weeks, SD = 1.1.) and their mothers were included in this study.
At child birth, mothers were 28.6 years old on average (SD = 5.8).
Fifty-one percent of mothers were White, 34% were Latino/Latina, and 11% were Asian-American.
Limitations
Other untested variables, such as genetic transmission, may have influenced the findings and these variables were not reported in this study.
It is unclear if there were inclusion or exclusion criteria for mothers or infants to participate in the study, which limits the ability to fully understand the sample.
No data were provided regarding if mothers were taking psychiatric medications, which could have impacted their stress and cortisol levels.
Avenues for Future Research
Collect data that can asses both the genetic and environmental contributions to infant stress regulation
Examine the long-term implications (e.g., social and cognitive functioning) for children regarding exposure to high levels of prenatal cortisol
Explore how paternal stressors and self-regulation of stress affect infant functioning
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
Objective: Prenatal exposure to inappropriate levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) and maternal stress are putative mechanisms for the fetal programming of later health outcomes. The current investigation examined the influence of prenatal maternal cortisol and maternal psychosocial stress on infant physiological and behavioral responses to stress. Methods: The study sample comprised 116 women and their full term infants. Maternal plasma cortisol and report of stress, anxiety and depression were assessed at 15, 19, 25, 31 and 36 + weeks’ gestational age. Infant cortisol and behavioral responses to the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw were evaluated at 24 hours after birth. The association between prenatal maternal measures and infant cortisol and behavioral stress responses was examined using hierarchical linear growth curve modeling. Results: A larger infant cortisol response to the heel-stick procedure was associated with exposure to elevated concentrations of maternal cortisol during the late second and third trimesters. Additionally, a slower rate of behavioral recovery from the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw was predicted by elevated levels of maternal cortisol early in pregnancy as well as prenatal maternal psychosocial stress throughout gestation. These associations could not be explained by mode of delivery, prenatal medical history, socioeconomic status or child race, sex or birth order. Conclusions: These data suggest that exposure to maternal cortisol and psychosocial stress exerts programming influences on the developing fetus with consequences for infant stress regulation.
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