Perinatal maternal life events and psychotic experiences in children at twelve years in a birth cohort study
Sarah Dorrington1, Stan Zammit2, Laura Asher3
1Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Insights
Maternal stress during pregnancy may influence child psychotic experiences, but this link appears mediated by maternal mental health, not direct fetal neurodevelopment. Further research is needed.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychopathology
- Perinatal Mental Health
Background:
- Psychotic experiences affect 7% of children globally.
- Prenatal environmental stress may impact fetal neurodevelopment, increasing vulnerability to psychopathology.
- The link between prenatal stress and childhood psychotic experiences requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between maternal stress during pregnancy and psychotic experiences in 12-year-old children.
- To explore potential mediating factors in this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a birth cohort of 5038 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
- Maternal life event exposure measured during pregnancy.
- Childhood psychotic experiences assessed at age 12.
Main Results:
- A weak crude association was found between maternal life events and childhood psychotic experiences (OR 1.10).
- This association persisted after adjusting for socio-economic status, family history, education, and birth weight.
- The association disappeared after adjusting for maternal anxiety, depression, and early pregnancy smoking (OR 1.01).
Conclusions:
- Stressful life events during pregnancy may influence child psychotic experiences.
- This effect appears to be mediated by maternal psychopathology (anxiety, depression) and possibly physiological changes during pregnancy.
- The findings suggest that maternal mental health is a key factor in the relationship between prenatal stress and child outcomes.
Background:
International studies indicate that the median prevalence of psychotic experiences in children is 7%. It has been proposed that environmental stress during pregnancy may affect the neurodevelopment of the foetus and lead to a vulnerability in the child to later stressors and psychopathology.
Aim:
In this study we explore the relationship between environmental stress during pregnancy and psychotic experiences in children in the general population at 12 years.
Methods:
We analysed a birth cohort of 5038 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Environmental stress was measured as life event exposure. Data on life events were collected on women during their pregnancy, whilst psychotic experiences in the offspring were assessed at age 12.
Results:
There was a weak association between maternal exposure to life events and psychotic experiences at twelve years (crude OR 1.10 95% CI 1.02-1.18) per quartile of life event score. This association was not reduced after adjustment for socio-economic status, family history of schizophrenia, maternal education or birth weight but after adjustment for maternal anxiety and depression and smoking in early pregnancy there was no longer any evidence for an association (OR 1.01 95% CI 0.93-1.10).
Conclusion:
This study provides some evidence to suggest that stressful life events may affect child psychotic experiences through effects on maternal psychopathology, and possibly physiology, during pregnancy.
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