[Unwanted pregnancy as a cause of child development disorders?]

Relationships between unwanted pregnancies and behavioural disturbances in the infant were analyzed in 6117 pregnancies examined within a prospective multicenter collaborative study on pregnancy and child development. Prior to analyzing their consequences, correlates and causes of undesired pregnancy liable to operate as confounding factors by exerting direct influences on disturbances in the fetus or newborn were identified. This was achieved by stratification of the total group according to variables of obstetric history relevant to desire of pregnancy. Although not only social factors but also psychoneurotic behaviour was found to be partly responsible for rejection of pregnancy, it could be demonstrated that none of these factors unfavourably influenced physical health or psychomotor development of the infant, but merely seemed to show a few associations with the infant's aggressive or regressive tendencies at the age of 18 or 36 months.