Search

Background: Few studies have examined how parenting influences the associations between prenatal maternal stress and children's mental health. The objectives of this study were to examine the sex-specific associations between prenatal maternal stress and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and to assess the moderating effects of parenting behaviors on these associations. Methods: This study is based on 15 963 mother–child dyads from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). A broad measure of prenatal maternal stress was constructed using 41 self-reported items measured during pregnancy. Three parenting behaviors (positive parenting, inconsistent discipline, and positive involvement) were assessed by maternal report at child age 5 years. Child symptoms of internalizing and externalizing disorders (depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional-defiant disorder) were assessed by maternal report at age 8. Analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling techniques. Results: Prenatal maternal stress was associated with child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 8; associations with externalizing symptoms differed by sex. Associations between prenatal maternal stress and child depression, and conduct disorder and oppositional-defiant disorder in males, became stronger as levels of inconsistent discipline increased. Associations between prenatal maternal stress and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in females were attenuated as levels of parental involvement increased. Conclusions: This study confirms associations between prenatal maternal stress and children's mental health outcomes, and demonstrates that these associations may be modified by parenting behaviors. Parenting may represent an important intervention target for improving mental health outcomes in children exposed to prenatal stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children in foster care tend to exhibit adverse psychosocial functioning, and foster parents tend to experience high levels of stress related to their role as carers. Methods: The study included 60 foster children and 42 children living in biological families as a comparison group. Caregiver stress was measured using the Parenting Stress Index, while child problem behavior was measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Children and their primary carer were assessed when the children were 2, 3, and 8 years, respectively. Results: The results showed higher stress scores for foster parents at all time points, with the difference being most pronounced in stress related to the child. Problem behavior was also higher for foster children at age 8 years. Foster parent stress increased in all domains during the course of the study. Child domain stress was the only significant predictor of child problem behavior. Conclusion: Foster parents are overall more stressed than biological parents, with stress levels increasing over time. Foster children have more behavior problems, and these problems are closely related to their carers' child‐related stress. Further implications for the reduction of parenting stress are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Hazardous drinking (i.e. alcohol consumption that places drinkers at risk for adverse health outcomes) during pregnancy is associated with adverse child outcomes. To address whether the associations are causal, we aimed to estimate the effect of maternal hazardous drinking during the first trimester on offspring emotional and behavioural problems throughout the pre‐school age. We adjusted for: (1) measured confounding (e.g. smoking), (2) familial risk factors by sibling control design and (3) non‐shared environmental risk factors by using hazardous drinking the 3 months before pregnancy as an instrumental variable. Design Prospective cohort study. Participants were recruited between 1999 and 2009 at ultrasound examination offered to all pregnant women in Norway. Data were collected during the 17th and the 30th weeks of gestation, and when the children were aged 1.5, 3 and 5 years. Setting Norway, 1999–2015. Participants: The sample consisted of 14 639 mothers with 25 744 offspring siblings from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Measurements Respondents self‐reported on: alcohol consumption, children's emotional problems (i.e. emotional reactive, anxiety/depression, somatic complaints) and children's behavioural problems (i.e. attention and aggressive behaviour) throughout pre‐school age. We used longitudinal latent growth curve models to estimate the effect of maternal drinking during the first trimester on offspring emotional and behavioural problems. Findings Most associations were strongly reduced after controlling for both familial and measured environmental risk factors. After adjustment, exposed children were more emotionally reactive [β = 2.33; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.13–4.53] and had more somatic complaints (β = 1.93; 95% CI = 0.09–3.77) at age 3, but not at age 5. Exposed children were less aggressive than unexposed siblings at age 5 (β = −2.27; 95% CI = –4.02 to –0.52). Conclusions: Children exposed to their mothers' hazardous drinking during the first trimester appear to be more emotionally reactive and have more somatic complaints at age 3, but not at age 5, and are less aggressive at age 5 compared with unexposed siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic complaints in children and adolescents may be considered part of a broader spectrum of internalizing disorders that include anxiety and depression. Previous research on the topic has focused mainly on the relationship between anxiety and depression without investigating how common somatic symptoms relate to an underlying factor and its etiology. Based on the classical twin design with monozygotic and dizygotic twins reared together, our study aimed to explore the extent to which the covariation between three phenotypes in adolescent girls and boys can be represented by a latent internalizing factor, with a focus on both common and specific etiological sources. A population-based sample of twins aged 12-18 years and their mothers and fathers (N = 1394 families) responded to questionnaire items measuring the three phenotypes. Informants' ratings were collapsed using full information maximum likelihood estimated factor scores. Multivariate genetic analyses were conducted to examine the etiological structure of concurrent symptoms. The best fitting model was an ACE common pathway model without sex limitation and with one substantially heritable (44%) latent factor shared by the phenotypes. Concurrent symptoms also resulted from shared (25%) and non-shared (31%) environments. The factor loaded most on depression symptoms and least on somatic complaints. Trait-specific influences explained 44% of depression variance, 59% of anxiety variance, and 65% of somatic variance. Our results suggest the presence of a general internalizing factor along which somatic complaints and mental distress can be modeled. However, specific influences make the symptom types distinguishable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Diet quality is related to the risk for depression and anxiety in adults and adolescents; however, the possible impact of maternal and early postnatal nutritional exposures on children's subsequent mental health is unexplored., Method: The large prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study recruited pregnant women between 1999 and 2008. Data were collected from mothers during pregnancy and when children were 6 months and 1.5, 3, and 5 years of age. Latent growth curve models were used to model linear development in children's internalizing and externalizing problems from 1.5 to 5 years of age as a function of diet quality during pregnancy and at 1.5 and 3 years. Diet quality was evaluated by dietary pattern extraction and characterized as "healthy" or "unhealthy." The sample comprised 23,020 eligible women and their children. Adjustments were made for variables including sex of the child, maternal depression, maternal and paternal age, maternal educational attainment, household income, maternal smoking before and during pregnancy, mothers' parental locus of control, and marital status., Results: Higher intakes of unhealthy foods during pregnancy predicted externalizing problems among children, independently of other potential confounding factors and childhood diet. Children with a high level of unhealthy diet postnatally had higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems. Moreover, children with a low level of postnatal healthy diet also had higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems., Conclusion: Among this large cohort of mothers and children, early nutritional exposures were independently related to the risk for behavioral and emotional problems in children., (Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)