Maternal psychological stress

Two years later, the Mt. Sinai research group published three papers on their findings in three different medical journals.2 To sum up their conclusions The cause of intrauterine growth retardation in the infants was apparently not dust and smoke inhaled by the pregnant mothers, but maternal psychological stress and cortisol secretion effects, as indicated by measures of below-normal cortisol levels in their infants. 

Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy most certainly results in transient or enduring physiological and hormonal changes that may affect fetal brain development. So... 

Murry, V. M., Brown, R, Adama, B., Gene, H., Cutrona, C. E., Simons, R. L. (November, 2001). Racial discrimination as a moderator of the links among stress, maternal psychological functioning, and family relationships. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 915—926. 

Pruessner, J. C., Champagne, E, Meaney, M. J., Dagher, A. 2004, Dopamine release in response to a psychological stress in humans and its relationship to early life maternal care a positron emission tomography study using [llC]raclopride, J.Neurosci., vol. 24, no. 11, pp. 2825-2831. 

Stress hormones can also be powerful modifiers of fetal development, which is how the psychological state of a pregnant mother can affect the physiological state of her fetus. Quantitative measurement of postnatal behavioral and IQ consequences are problematic, but there s enough evidence that makes biological sense to underscore the importance of maternal stress as a mediating variable between the maternal psychological and social environment and the development of the fetal body and brain. 

---