Experimental animal models have demonstrated that one of the primary consequences of prenatal stress is increased fear and anxiety in the offspring. Few prospective human studies have evaluated the consequences of prenatal stress on anxiety during preadolescence. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the consequences of prenatal exposure to both maternal biological stress signals an...

OBJECTIVES Early life stress is known to have enduring biological effects, particularly with respect to health. Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, are a possible mechanism to mediate the biological effect of stress. We previously found correlations between maternal stress, newborn birthweight, and genome-wide measures of DNA methylation. Here we investigate ten genes related to ...

This study examined maternal parenting stress in a sample of 430 boys and girls including those at risk for externalizing behavior problems. Children and their mothers were assessed when the children were ages 2, 4, and 5. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to examine stability of parenting stress across early childhood and to examine child and maternal factors predicting parenting str...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether (1) maternal psychosocial stress (depression/anxiety) during pregnancy is associated with offspring vascular function and (2) whether any association differs depending on the gestational timing of exposure to stress. We also investigated whether any association is likely to be due to intrauterine mechanisms by (3) comparing with the association of paternal stres...

BACKGROUND Gene-environment interactions mediate through the placenta and shape the fetal brain development. Between the environmental determinants of the fetal brain, maternal psychosocial stress in pregnancy has been shown to negatively influence the infant temperament development. This in turn may have adverse consequences on the infant neurodevelopment extending throughout the entire life-s...

This study uses data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study on Early Child Care to examine the effects of maternal employment on maternal mental and overall health, self-reported parenting stress, and parenting quality. These outcomes are measured when children are 6 months old. Among mothers of 6-month-old infants, maternal work hours are positively associated ...

Maternal prenatal stress has been often associated with infant physical development and health, as well as psychological functioning and behavior. However, the mechanisms underlying these relations remain elusive. The goal of the present study was to prospectively investigate the development of the intestinal microbiota as a potential pathway linking maternal prenatal stress and infant health. ...

background: neonatal mortality, prematurity, and congenital disorders, known as crisis, are unexpected stressful events causing extreme maternal stress. according to the literature, about 28-70% of the mothers have a high degree of psychological stress. among different treatments, praying as a complementary religious approach is the most common source that people use in difficult conditions. re...

Intra-uterine growth restriction is an independent risk factor for adult psychiatric and cardiovascular diseases. In humans, intra-uterine growth restriction is associated with increased placental and fetal oxidative stress, as well as down-regulation of placental 11β-HSD (11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase). Decreased placental 11β-HSD activity increases fetal exposure to maternal glucocorticoid...

The long-term impact of early stress on behavior and emotions is well documented in humans, and can be modeled in experimental animals. In mice, maternal separation during early postnatal development induces poor and disorganized maternal care, and results in behavioral deficits that persist through adulthood. Here, we examined the long-term effect of unpredictable maternal separation combined ...