Risk factors occurring during pregnancy and birth in relation to brain functioning and child's anxiety

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Childhood anxiety is a significant concern with complex etiological factors.
• Understanding objective risk factors during pregnancy and delivery is crucial for early intervention.
• The role of non-specific cerebral functioning in mediating these risks requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between prenatal and perinatal risk factors and the development of child anxiety.
• To determine if child's non-specific cerebral functioning mediates the relationship between these risk factors and anxiety.
• To identify objective predictors of childhood anxiety.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of children aged 8-12 years, categorized as median-anxious (n=82) and high-anxious (n=188), was recruited using an anxiety screening questionnaire.
• Mothers provided information on prenatal and perinatal risk factors through interviews.
• Children's non-specific cerebral functioning was assessed using a visuospatial copying task.

Main Results:

• Children with high anxiety were exposed to a greater number of prenatal risk factors compared to perinatal factors.
• High-anxious children exhibited more significant deviations on the visuospatial copying task.
• Prenatal risk factors, visuospatial task performance, and their interaction significantly predicted anxiety, explaining 13.5% of its variance.

Conclusions:

• Prenatal risk factors are important predictors of child anxiety and are associated with altered cerebral functioning.
• The findings highlight the significance of considering maternal and pregnancy-related factors in the context of child anxiety.
• This research underscores the interplay between environmental risks during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental pathways influencing childhood anxiety.