Effects of prenatal stress and depression on infant effortful control

• In Event: Prenatal stress exposure among Black American women: Implications for maternal and child health outcomes

Abstract

Prenatal stress and depression are linked to substandard perinatal outcomes as well risk of offspring psychopathology later in life (Graignic-Philippe et. al, 2014; Barker et. al, 2011). Effortful control is a cognitive mechanism used to regulate behaviors and emotions to adjust to the demands of one’s environment (Nigg, 2017). Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that poor effortful control is linked to psychopathology in children and adolescents. However, few studies have examined the relationship between prenatal stress and depression on infant effortful control, especially in populations that have historically been exposed to high levels of prenatal stress (Davis, 2018). An evaluation of these variables may shed light on the mechanisms contributing to child and adolescent health and psychopathology.

The current study aims to understand the relationship between stress and depression across pregnancy and their relationship to infants’ effortful control. Participants were recruited from the Nutrition and Pregnancy Study (NAPS), a longitudinal study of pregnant Black American women living in low-resourced communities in Chicago. We hypothesized that stress and depression would be stable within participants over the course of pregnancy and the prenatal period. We also hypothesized that infants whose mothers displayed higher levels and stability of stress and depression during their pregnancy would display lower levels of effortful control at 4 months of age. The Perceived Stress Scale and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were used to assess perceived stress and depression at four time points during pregnancy: 10-16, 17-21, 25-29, and 33-37 weeks of gestation. The Effortful Control subscale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire - Revised Very Short Form was used to measure effortful control (i.e., attentiveness and soothability) when infants were 4 months of age. Data from a sample of 111 subjects were used for analysis.

Perceived stress decreased significantly across the prenatal period (F [1,110], p < .01; eta=-.681). Higher levels of maternal perceived stress between 25 and 29 weeks of gestation was significantly associated with lower scores of effortful control in their infants at 4 months (F[1,3], p < .05; eta=-.329). Reported symptoms of depression in the mothers at any point in pregnancy was not associated with lower effortful control in their infants at 4 months.

Our findings indicate that the end of the second trimester and the beginning of the third trimester may be a sensitive period for the effects of maternal stress on infant effortful control. Further research is needed on the biological mechanisms that link maternal stress and fetal neurodevelopment during this period.

Authors

• Katharine Ross, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Anna Wiktoria Sroka, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Johnny Berona, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rimma Ilyumzhinova, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Willa Meyer, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kimberley Mbayiwa, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alison E. Hipwell, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kate Keenan, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author