The Timing of Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Cortisol and Psychosocial Stress is Associated with Human Infant Cognitive Development

By Elysia Poggi Davis, Curt A. Sandman. Child Development, 2010

727 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The consequences of prenatal maternal stress for infant mental and motor development were examined in 125 full term infants at 3, 6 and12 months of age. Maternal cortisol and psychological state were evaluated five times during pregnancy and at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum. Exposure to elevated concentrations of cortisol early in gestation was associated with a slower rate of development over the first postnatal year and lower scores on the mental development index of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) at 12 months. Elevated levels of maternal cortisol late in gestation, however, were associated with accelerated development over the first year and higher scores on the BSID at 12 months. Elevated levels of maternal pregnancy specific anxiety early in pregnancy were independently associated with lower scores on the BSID at 12 months. These associations could not be explained by postnatal maternal psychological stress, stress related to parenting, prenatal medical history, socioeconomic factors or child race, sex or birth order. These data suggest that maternal cortisol and pregnancy specific anxiety have programming influences on the developing fetus. Prenatal exposure to the same signal, cortisol, had opposite associations with infant development based on the timing of exposure.

Subfields: Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a4d8e98f3e9fdb496f5919e6ed80b398bdb42c6

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Citations in the corpus

Diurnal Cortisol Slopes and Mental and Physical Health Outcomes:A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (2017, background): “…regulation may play a role in mediating associations between stress exposure and later developmental and health outcomes (Lupien et al., 2009; Davis and Sandman, 2010), including both the onset and progression of mental and physical health…”
Children's Brain Development Benefits from Longer Gestation (2011, unknown): “Our findings in this normal healthy sample support the argument that prenatal experiences (e.g., exposure to maternal and placental hormones) alter the trajectory of fetal brain development (Davis and Sandman, 2010).”
Maternal cortisol over the course of pregnancy and subsequent child amygdala and hippocampus volumes and affective problems (2012, background): “Thus, although glucocorticoids play an essential role in normal brain development, abnormal or inappropriate levels, particularly during sensitive periods, may induce neurotoxicity with detrimental long-term consequences (21).”
Prenatal developmental origins of behavior and mental health: The influence of maternal stress in pregnancy. (2017, background): “not found significant associations between maternal cortisol during pregnancy and child outcomes; for example, no associations were found with temperament (Davis and Sandman, 2010; Gutteling et al., 2005; Rothenberger et al., 2011a) nor with mother ratings of infant”
Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided Instruction. (2012, background): “Mothers under chronic stress during pregnancy have babies who develop more slowly during the first year, and who show lower mental development at 12 months.(65) As a child, chronic stress affects how the body responds to stress—the longer a child lives under stressful conditions (crowding, noise, su”
Child Development in the Context of Adversity (2012, background): “A substantial literature on the relation of prenatal experience to postnatal development indicates that canalizing processes begin early and can have meaningful implications for later self-regulation (Davis & Sandman, 2010; Markham, Toth, & Lickliter, 2006).”