Prenatal experience effects on children
Here, I present two studies of the effects of prenatal experience on later child development. First, Tung et al. (2023) published “Prenatal Stress and Externalizing Behaviors in Childhood and Adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis” in Psychological Bulletin. Here are the edited abstract and impact statement:
Accumulating evidence suggests that psychological distress during pregnancy is linked to offspring risk for externalizing outcomes (e.g., reactive/aggressive behaviors, hyperactivity, and impulsivity). Effect sizes across studies have varied widely, however, due to differences in study design and methodology, including control for the confounding continuation of distress in the postnatal period. Clarifying these inconsistencies is necessary to guide the precision of prevention efforts and inform public health policies. A meta-analysis was conducted with 55 longitudinal studies to investigate the association between prenatal psychological distress (anxiety, depression, and perceived stress) and offspring externalizing behaviors. Results revealed a significant but small effect (r = .160) of prenatal distress on externalizing behaviors. The magnitude of the prenatal effect size remained largely unchanged after adjusting for postnatal distress (r = .159), implicating a unique effect of psychological distress during the prenatal period in the etiology of externalizing behaviors. Moderation tests showed that prenatal effects did not vary based on type and timing of psychological distress during pregnancy. Greater instability of distress from prenatal to postnatal periods predicted larger effects. Prenatal effects were comparable across most externalizing outcomes, consistent with the common comorbidity of externalizing spectrum disorders, although effects appeared smaller for nonaggressive rule-breaking (vs. aggressive) behaviors. Significant associations persisted across all developmental periods, appearing slightly larger in early childhood.
This meta-analysis suggests that psychological distress during the pregnancy period uniquely increases children’s risk for aggressive, disinhibited, and impulsive behaviors. Effects are relatively small but persist across developmental periods from early childhood through adolescence. Providing widely accessible mental health care and support during pregnancy may be a critical step to early prevention of childhood behavior problems.
What I found most helpful in this study was the control for postnatal distress. It’s easy to assume that children whose mothers are stressed before birth are likely to continue to be after birth. Knowing that there are small but important increases in risk may be helpful in recognizing the neuropsychological impacts of prenatal experience. The next study takes a different approach by looking at parental expectations.
Razer, Moed, Assor, Kanat-Maymon & Auerbach (2023) published “Prenatal Buds of Conditional Regard and Autonomy Support: Associations with postnatal parenting and child adjustment” in Journal of Family Psychology. The abstract follows:
Toddlerhood is a period where issues of autonomy and control in parent–child relationships become particularly intense. In response to these challenges, some parents adopt controlling practices, whereas others are more autonomy supportive. However, research has yet to examine prenatal orientations that foreshadow specific controlling or autonomy-supportive parental practices in toddlerhood and children’s socioemotional functioning. In particular, literature on early childhood socialization lacks sufficient evidence on the effects of the controversial controlling practice of parental conditional positive regard. To increase our knowledge on these issues, we examined reports provided by Israeli Jewish mothers during their first pregnancy (N = 294), at 18-month postpartum (N = 226), and when the child was 42 months old (N = 134). To control for child temperament, both parents reported 8-month postpartum (N = 235) on infant temperament dispositions, which may act as precursors of later socioemotional functioning. Structural equations modeling revealed that a general prenatal maternal orientation to use conditional regard as a socialization practice predicted mothers’ use of the specific practices of conditional positive and negative regard with toddlers, which then predicted internalizing problems when children reached the age of 42 months. Additionally, a general prenatal orientation toward autonomy-supportive parenting predicted mothers’ perspective taking with toddlers, which then predicted children’s prosocial behavior at 42 months. The effects emerged also after controlling for infants’ temperamental dispositions toward negative emotionality and positive affect. Findings underlie the potential role of prenatal orientations toward conditional regard and autonomy support that, when later transform into specific early parenting practices, may serve as early markers of child socioemotional adjustment.
Like the first study, this one has a nice control, this time for temperament. It’s easy to assume that children with difficult temperaments elicit more controlling behavior by parents and vice versa. Here, we find that, when mothers expect to be supportive of autonomy and less controlling, they have better perspective taking with their toddlers, who, in turn, exhibit more prosocial behavior in preschool. While both studies may be most helpful to those working with people before they become pregnant, each has potential to assist professionals who work with children and adolescents.