Stressors in adult life, both short- and long-term, can adversely affect mood and behavior, as well as physiological functioning. Because stress, anxiety, and depression have physiological effects it is important to understand how maternal stress responses impact fetal development. Fetal development concerning organizational influences of the nervous system is termed “programming” (Davis et al., 2007). The timing of fetal development in relation to maternal physiological responses influences programming and further affects infant behavior and temperament. Fetal exposure to maternal physiological stress-responses in the form of elevated cortisol levels is associated with negative reactivity in infants (Davis et al., 2007) and increased risk
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Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Depression and Cortisol Influences Infant Temperament by Davis et al. from 2007 focuses on those long term behavioral affects of prenatal stress on children born to full-term and of normal gestational birth weight. These qualifiers assess for the affects of maternal stress on fetal and infant development without confounding affects of developmental disorders in preterm or low birth-weight children already at risk for neurodevelopmental problems. In this study of 247 women with singleton, full-term pregnancies of household income from $5,000-$100,000, education level ranging from 98% high school to 51% college graduates, and racial background including 49% non-Hispanic white, 20% Hispanic white, 11% African American and 9% Asian, they determined that prenatal maternal anxiety and depression predicted infant temperament (Davis et al., 2007). At three points during gestation and one postpartum, pregnant women were given questionnaires which measured psychosocial indicators of anxiety, depression and perceived stress, as well as cortisol levels through salivary samples. In children, infant temperament was measured through negative reactivity to novel stimuli on a fear subscale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) by maternal
Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Depression and Cortisol Influences Infant Temperament by Davis et al. from 2007 focuses on those long term behavioral affects of prenatal stress on children born to full-term and of normal gestational birth weight. These qualifiers assess for the affects of maternal stress on fetal and infant development without confounding affects of developmental disorders in preterm or low birth-weight children already at risk for neurodevelopmental problems. In this study of 247 women with singleton, full-term pregnancies of household income from $5,000-$100,000, education level ranging from 98% high school to 51% college graduates, and racial background including 49% non-Hispanic white, 20% Hispanic white, 11% African American and 9% Asian, they determined that prenatal maternal anxiety and depression predicted infant temperament (Davis et al., 2007). At three points during gestation and one postpartum, pregnant women were given questionnaires which measured psychosocial indicators of anxiety, depression and perceived stress, as well as cortisol levels through salivary samples. In children, infant temperament was measured through negative reactivity to novel stimuli on a fear subscale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) by maternal