Maternal antenatal anxiety, postnatal stroking and emotional problems in children: outcomes predicted from pre- and postnatal programming hypotheses

H. Sharp, J. Hill, J. Hellier, A. Pickles

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

69 Citations (Scopus)
180 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Mothers' self-reported stroking of their infants over the first weeks of life modifies the association between prenatal depression and physiological and emotional reactivity at 7 months, consistent with animal studies of the effects of tactile stimulation. We now investigate whether the effects of maternal stroking persist to 2.5 years. Given animal and human evidence for sex differences in the effects of prenatal stress we compare associations in boys and girls.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)269-283
JournalPsychological Medicine
Volume45
Issue number2
Early online date28 Jul 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2015

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