Repeated stress in pregnancy ups risk of behavior problems in kids
April 21st, 2011 - 2:51 pm ICT by ANIWashington, April 21 (ANI): Experiencing repeated stress during pregnancy increases the risk of behavioural problems in children, according to a new study.
Common stressful events included financial and relationship problems, difficult pregnancy, job loss and issues with other children and major life stressors were events such as a death in the family.
“What we have found is that it is the overall number of stresses that is most related to child behaviour outcomes,” said lead author Monique Robinson, a registered psychologist at Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.
“Two or fewer stresses during pregnancy are not associated with poor child behavioural development, but as the number of stresses increase to three or more, then the risks of more difficult child behaviour increase,” he said.
For the study, researchers analysed the data from Western Australia’s long-term cohort Raine Study, which recruited nearly 3000 pregnant women and recorded life stress events experienced at 18 and 34 weeks of pregnancy, as well as collecting sociodemographic data.
The mother’s experience of life stress events and child behavioural assessments were also recorded when the children were followed-up ages 2, 5, 8, 10, and 14 years using a questionnaire called the Child Behaviour Checklist.
The study has been published online in the latest edition of the top international journal Development and Psychopathology. (ANI)
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