Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years. Report from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.
BACKGROUND
Animal experiments suggest that maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy have long-term effects on the behaviour of the offspring.


OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that antenatal maternal anxiety predicts behavioural problems at age 4 years.


METHODS
Data were collected on multiple antenatal and postnatal assessments of maternal anxiety and depression, antenatal and obstetric risks, psychosocial risks and children's behavioural/emotional problems (n=7448).


RESULTS
Antenatal maternal anxiety predicted behavioural/emotional problems in boys (OR=2.14, 95% CI 1.48-3.10) and girls (OR=1.88, 95% CI 1.3-2.69) after accounting for covariates. When covarying maternal anxiety up to 33 months postnatally, antenatal anxiety continued to predict total problems in boys (OR=1.56, 95% CI 1.02-2.41) and girls (OR=1.51, 95% CI 1.22-2.81).


CONCLUSIONS
There could be a direct effect of maternal mood on foetal brain development, which affects the behavioural development of the child.
O'Connor
Thomas G
TG
Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London. spjwtoc@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Heron
Jonathan
J
Golding
Jean
J
Beveridge
Michael
M
Glover
Vivette
V
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales