Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 12, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Published on: June 13, 2021

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Maternal Psychological Distress Before and After Childbirth and Neurodevelopmental Delay in Toddlers

Kenta Matsumura1,2,3, Tomomi Tanaka3,4, Masami Kuroda3,5

  • 1Graduate School of Health Sciences, Aomori University of Health and Welfare, Aomori, Japan.

JAMA Network Open
|October 31, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Maternal psychological distress after childbirth increases toddler neurodevelopmental delay risk more than during pregnancy. Continued mental health support for mothers is crucial from pregnancy through the first year postpartum.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Health
  • Child Development
  • Mental Health Research

Background:

  • Maternal psychological distress is a known risk factor for offspring neurodevelopmental delay.
  • Previous research has not fully explored the bidirectional relationship between maternal mental health and child development over time.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To estimate the risk of neurodevelopmental delay in toddlers associated with maternal psychological distress during mid- to late pregnancy and at 1 year postpartum.
  • To investigate the temporal relationship between maternal mental health and child developmental outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS), a large-scale, ongoing nationwide longitudinal birth cohort.
  • Included 82,418 mother-child pairs, analyzing psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, K6 score ≥ 5) and neurodevelopmental delay (Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition) at multiple time points.
  • Employed a marginal structural modeling approach to account for time-varying exposures and confounding.

Main Results:

  • Maternal psychological distress at 1 year postpartum showed a higher adjusted odds ratio (aOR, 1.25) for toddler neurodevelopmental delay compared to distress during pregnancy only (aOR, 1.08).
  • Psychological distress during both pregnancy and 1 year postpartum presented the highest risk (aOR, 1.38).
  • No significant multiplicative interaction was found between distress during pregnancy and postpartum periods.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal psychological distress in the first year postpartum poses a greater risk for neurodevelopmental delay in toddlers than distress during pregnancy.
  • Findings underscore the critical importance of sustained maternal mental health support throughout pregnancy and into the postpartum period.
  • Interventions should address maternal well-being across the perinatal continuum to mitigate risks to child development.
Abstract

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