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Scientists have found another reason to blame your mother.
Behavioral problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or aggression in children and teens may be linked to high levels of maternal stress in the birthing parent, a new study published by American Psychological Association found.
With her colleagues, Irene Tung, an author of the study and assistant professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, analyzed data from 55 studies that represented more than 45,000 participants. The studies measured anxiety, depression, and stress, or “psychological distress,” during pregnancy—and then the behaviors of the children.
“Our research suggests that psychological distress during the pregnancy period has a small but persistent effect on children’s risk for aggressive, disinhibited, and impulsive behaviors,” Tung said in a statement. “These findings add to the evidence that providing widely accessible mental health care and support during pregnancy may be a critical step to help prevent childhood behavior problems.”
The research, published in November in the journal Psychological Bulletin, concluded that “women who reported more anxiety, depression, or stress while pregnant were more likely to have children with more ADHD symptoms or who exhibited more difficulties with aggressive or hostile behavior, as reported by parents or teachers.”
The findings, which occurred consistently across the gender spectrum, “held true” for kids ages two to 18, though the aggression and ADHD were strongest in early childhood (ages two to five), highlighting the theory that stress hormones can affect brain development in utero, according to the researchers.