Moderate levels of maternal psychological stress during pregnancy may actually enhance fetal maturation, say researchers from the Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The findings are in contrast to traditional wisdom which held that mothers-to-be should avoid maternal stress. The study's lead author, Janet A. DiPietro, writing in the journal Child Development, explained that modest anxiety and daily stress during pregnancy appeared to be associated with more advanced early child development. "These findings remained even after accounting for levels of stress and anxiety women experienced at six weeks and at two years postpartum. Prenatal maternal stress also didn't interfere with children's temperaments, attention capacity or ability to control behavior and did not cause hyperactivity."
"Our findings should provide relief to women who are experiencing the normal anxieties and stresses common to the demands of modern life. In essence, women can stop worrying that their emotional state is harming their unborn baby. Obviously, we don't recommend that women seek out stress, because maternal exhaustion is not good preparation for labor and delivery and the demands of child rearing," added DiPietro.
The notion that stress is bad during pregnancy came about largely through animal studies, but the new study involved pregnant women and later follow-up of their 2-year-old children. DiPietro explains the difference by positing that the controlled environment in animal studies differs greatly from the day-to-day lives of actual expectant mothers. But she cautioned that because the participants in the study were mostly well-educated, financially stable women who did not have clinically diagnosed psychological problems, the results may not extend to more disadvantaged women or those with mental health disorders.
Ascertaining the exact mechanism at work would require further research, said DiPietro, who said the findings may be due to biological changes as a result of stress, or perhaps women who feel more stress are more likely to raise their children in ways that encourage child development.
Source: Johns Hopkins University
