The link
between anxiety and later behavioral problems is present even after accounting
for factors like the baby’s birth weight and gender,
mothers’ postnatal anxiety, parents’ education and influences
like smoking during pregnancy, according to Bea Van den Bergh, Ph.D.,
and Alfons Marcoen, Ph.D., of Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
It’s not the fleeting moments of normal prenatal anxiety, but rather
underlying levels of constant stress that seem to “enhance a child’s
susceptibility for developing a childhood disorder,” Van den Bergh
says.
A mother’s anxiety levels between the 12th and 22nd
weeks of pregnancy were more likely than anxiety in the 32nd to 40th
weeks to predict behavioral
problems, the researchers found.
The 12th through 22nd weeks of pregnancy may represent a critical time
in fetal development, during which stress lays down brain circuitry that
could set the stage for problems like attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity,
depression and aggression.
“When disturbing factors act during sensitive times in development,
they impose an organization on a system that may be hard to readapt under
future environments,” Van den Bergh explains.
The small study included 71 mothers and their first-born children. The
women were screened for anxiety using psychological questionnaires three
times during their pregnancy. None of the women in the study had been diagnosed
previously with a psychiatric disorder or treated for anxiety.
Mothers, teachers and independent observers then provided
information on the children’s behavioral problems when the children
were 8 to 9 years old. The adults filled out internationally used, standardized
clinical
measurement tools, such as the Child Behavior Checklist.
Scores on the checklist indicated that 11 percent of the children in the
study had at least borderline attention and hyperactivity problems, and
9 percent had at least borderline problems concerning aggression or anxiety
and depression problems.
Women who reported high anxiety levels earlier in pregnancy were more
apt to have children with one of these problems than those with only mild
or moderate levels of prenatal anxiety.
The study was supported by the Fund of Scientific Research in Flanders,
Belgium and the Population and Family Study Centre, Flemish Government.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Interviews: Contact Bea Van den Bergh at Bea.vandenbergh@psy.kuleuven.ac.be or +32 16 32 58 60.
Child Development: Contact Stephanie J. Somerville at (734) 998-7310 or
somersj@umich.edu.
