Journal Article

Prenatal Maternal Stress and Child IQ

Verhulst, Frank C., Tiemeier, Henning, Jaddoe, Vincent W.V., Hidalgo, Andrea P. Cortes, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J., Neumann, Alexander, Rijlaarsdam, Jolien, van IJzendoorn, Marinus H., White, Tonya

2020

Overview

The evidence for negative influences of maternal stress during pregnancy on child cognition remains inconclusive. This study tested the association between maternal prenatal stress and child intelligence in 4,251 mother-child dyads from a multiethnic population-based cohort in the Netherlands. A latent factor of prenatal stress was constructed, and child IQ was tested at age 6 years. In Ehitch and Caribbean participants, prenatal stress was not associated with child IQ after adjustment for maternal IQ and socioeconomic status. In other ethnicities no association was found; only in the Moroccan/Turkish group a small negative association between prenatal stress and child IQ was observed. These results suggest that prenatal stress does not predict child IQ, except in children from less acculturated minority groups.

• Publisher: Wiley for the Society for Research in Child Development,Wiley-Blackwell,Oxford University Press
• Subject: Acculturation / Adult / Child / Children / Cognition / Cognitive Development / Cohort Studies / Correlation / EMPIRICAL ARTICLES / Ethnicity / Female / Foreign Countries / Humans / Immigrants / Intelligence / Intelligence - physiology / Intelligence Quotient / Intelligence tests / Male / Maternal stress / Minority & ethnic groups / Minority Groups / Mothers / Netherlands - ethnology / Parent educational background / Pregnancy / Prenatal care / Prenatal experience / Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - ethnology / Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - physiopathology / Prenatal Influences / Social Class / Socioeconomic status / Stress / Stress Variables / Stress, Psychological - ethnology / Stress, Psychological - physiopathology