Little research has explored the impact of mother’s experiences of stressful events as well as how distressed she feels during pregnancy on her child’s later mental health outcomes. A new ECHO PATHWAYS study published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology examined the association between maternal stressful life events and perceived distress during pregnancy and child mental health at age four. Participants were 454 mothers and their children located in four regions across the country: San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Minneapolis, MN; and Rochester, NY. Mothers reported on whether they experienced any of 14 different types of major stressful events as well as how distressed they felt during pregnancy. When children were 4-years-old, mothers also reported on their child’s behavior problems and ability to respond well to changes in their environments (i.e., adaptability).The research found that during pregnancy, both major stressful events and feelings of distress independently predicted children’s behavior. More types of stressful events and higher distress predicted more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and worse adaptability in children. These findings highlight the importance of considering the type of stress measurement being used (e.g., counts of objective event exposure or subjective perceptions) and suggest that prenatal stress effects may be useful for indicating who is at risk for developing mental health problems. ECHO PATHWAYS co-investigator Dr. Kristen Rudd was first author and mPI Dr. Nicole Bush was last author.
