title: Fetal exposure to maternal stress and risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorders among offspring: Differential influences of fetal sex.
abstract: Exposure to adverse life events during pregnancy has been linked to increased risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) in offspring. Nevertheless, much of the previous work inferred maternal stress from severe life events rather than directly assessing maternal reports of stress. The present study aimed to examine maternal reports of stress during pregnancy and risk for offspring SSD. Participants were 95 SSD cases and 206 controls who were offspring from a large birth cohort study that followed pregnant women from 1959 to 1966. During pregnancy interviews, women were asked if anything worrisome had occurred recently. Interviews were qualitatively coded for stress-related themes, including reports of daily life stress, by two independent raters. None of the maternal psychosocial stress themes were significantly associated with increased odds of offspring SSD in analyses of the full sample. However, results indicated a significant daily life stress by infant sex interaction. Maternal daily life stress during pregnancy was associated with significantly increased odds of SSD among male offspring. Findings suggest sex-specific fetal sensitivity to maternal reported daily life stress during pregnancy on risk for SSD, with males appearing to be more vulnerable to the influences of maternal stress during pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fineberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: ellman@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Lauren M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ellman
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Seth D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Maxwell
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Nashid H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Chaudhury
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Aundrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Michaeline A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bresnahan
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Ezra S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Susser
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Alan S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000209:etiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D014937:Work
keywords: Prenatal stress; Psychosis; Sex differences