A Developmental Cascade from Prenatal Stress to Child Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

Date
2019-05
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Publisher
Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Pediatric Psychology : Journal of Pediatric Psychology
Abstract
This study utilized a developmental cascade approach to test alternative theories about the underlying mechanisms behind the association of maternal prenatal stress and child psychopathology. The fetal programming hypothesis suggests that prenatal stress affects fetal structural and physiological systems responsible for individual differences in child temperament, which further increases risk for internalizing and externalizing problems. Interpersonal models of stress transmission suggest that maternal stress influences child mental health via early parenting behaviors. We also examined a continuation of stress hypothesis, in which prenatal stress predicts child mental health via the continuation of maternal stress in the postpartum period.
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Citation
Hentges, R. F., Graham, S. A., Plamondon, A. R., Tough, S. C., & Madigan, S. L. (2019). A Developmental Cascade from Prenatal Stress to Child Internalizing and Externalizing Problems. "Journal of Pediatric Psychology", 2019, 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsz044