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Associations of prenatal stress with 5-year-old children's executive function in a low socioeconomic status

Daphne M Vrantsidis1, Mark A Klebanoff2,3,4,5, Keith Owen Yeates6

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Development and Psychopathology
|May 6, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Prenatal stress negatively impacts children's executive function (EF), especially in low socioeconomic status (SES) families. This study found prenatal stress linked to poorer EF in boys and girls, with mixed results for girls' parent-reported EF.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Prenatal stress is linked to negative child outcomes, with potential for greater harm in low socioeconomic status (SES) environments.
  • Research on prenatal stress and children's executive function (EF) in low SES populations is limited.
  • Child sex may moderate the effects of prenatal stress on developing executive functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between prenatal stress and executive function (EF) in 5-year-old children from a predominantly low SES sample.
  • To examine whether child sex moderates the relationship between prenatal stress and children's EF.
  • To contribute to understanding the impact of prenatal stress on executive function in vulnerable populations.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective cohort study of 132 mother-child dyads from a low SES background.
  • Maternal prenatal stress assessed via composite measure of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, discrimination, and sleep quality across trimesters.
  • Child executive function (EF) evaluated at age 5 using parent-report (BRIEF-P) and child neuropsychological tests.

Main Results:

  • Higher prenatal stress was associated with better parent-reported EF (lower BRIEF-P scores) in females only.
  • Higher prenatal stress was linked to lower performance on neuropsychological EF measures in both males and females.
  • Findings suggest differential impacts of prenatal stress on EF depending on the assessment method and child sex.

Conclusions:

  • Prenatal stress is associated with poorer executive function (EF) in young children, particularly on objective neuropsychological measures, across both sexes in low SES settings.
  • The association between prenatal stress and parent-reported EF may be moderated by child sex, with females showing better reported EF despite higher stress.
  • Results highlight the need for interventions to mitigate prenatal stress effects on children's cognitive development in low SES populations.

Keywords:
early childhoodexecutive functionpregnancyprenatal stresssex differencessocioeconomic status

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