Prenatal Maternal Mood Patterns Predict Child Temperament and Adolescent Mental Health

Background This study quantifies the dynamics of maternal mood focusing on unpredictability, and to assess if greater unpredictability of prenatal maternal mood predicts child temperament and internalizing symptoms through early adolescence. Methods The association between prenatal mood predictability and child internalizing symptoms were assessed in two longitudinal cohorts (N’s = 227 and 180). Maternal mood was assessed repeatedly during pregnancy as early as 15 weeks’ gestation. Predictability of maternal mood was calculated by applying Shannon’s entropy to the distribution of responses on mood questionnaires. Maternal reports of child negative affectivity (a predictor of later internalizing) were collected at 6, 12, 24 months and 7 years of age. Child self-reports of anxiety symptoms were collected at 10 years and reports of depression symptoms at 13 years. Results Fetal exposure to more elevated maternal mood entropy predicted higher levels of child negative affectivity at 12 months (r = .36; p \u3c 01), 24 months (r = .31; p \u3c 01) and 7 years (r = .32; p \u3c 01) of age. In addition, children exposed to higher prenatal maternal mood entropy, reported higher levels of anxiety symptoms at 10 years (r = .24; p \u3c 01) and elevated depressive symptoms at 13 years (r = .29; p \u3c .01). These associations persisted after adjusting for maternal pre and postnatal mood valence (e.g. depression levels) and for other relevant demographic characteristics. Conclusions Our findings provide strong support for the notion that patterns of maternal mood influence the developing brain. More specifically, they suggest that prenatal maternal mood predictability may be a critical predictor of developmental mental health trajectories and should be considered when assessing early life influences on lifespan mental health

Exposure to Prenatal Psychobiological Stress Exerts Programming Influences on the Mother and Her Fetus

Background/Aims: Accumulating evidence from a relatively small number of prospective studies indicates that exposure to prenatal stress profoundly influences the developing human fetus with consequences that persist into childhood and very likely forever. Methods: Maternal/fetal dyads are assessed at ∼20, ∼25, ∼31 and ∼36 weeks of gestation. Infant assessments begin 24 h after delivery with the collection of cortisol and behavioral responses to the painful stress of the heel-stick procedure and measures of neonatal neuromuscular maturity. Infant cognitive, neuromotor development, stress and emotional regulation are evaluated at 3, 6 12 and 24 months of age. Maternal psychosocial stress and demographic information is collected in parallel with infant assessments. Child neurodevelopment is assessed with cognitive tests, measures of adjustment and brain imaging between 5 and 8 years of age. Results: Psychobiological markers of stress during pregnancy, especially early in gestation, result in delayed fetal maturation, disrupted emotional regulation and impaired cognitive performance during infancy and decreased brain volume in areas associated with learning and memory in 6- to 8-year-old children. We review findings from our projects that maternal endocrine alterations that accompany pregnancy and influence fetal/infant/child development are associated with decreased affective responses to stress, altered memory function and increased risk for postpartum depression. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the mother and her fetus both are influenced by exposure to psychosocial and biological stress. The findings that fetal and maternal programming occur in parallel may have important implications for long-term child development and mother/child interactions