Early maternal stress and health behaviours and offspring expression of psychosis in adolescence.

Spauwen J, Krabbendam L, Lieb R, Wittchen HU, van Os J. Early maternal stress and health behaviours and offspring expression of psychosis in adolescence.Acta Psychiatr Scand 2004: 110: 356–364.© Blackwell Munksgaard 2004.It has been suggested that influences operating early in life may affect the risk of postpubertal psychosis outcomes. This hypothesis was tested using a broad outcome of psychotic symptoms expressed in adolescence (prevalence: 15.6%).Findings are based on a longitudinal, population-based cohort study of 963 adolescents aged 15–20 years and their parents in the area of Munich, Germany. Trained psychologists assessed adolescents with the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Independently, direct diagnostic interviews were conducted with the parents.A range of medical complications of pregnancy and delivery, including lower birth weight, were not associated with the psychosis outcome. However, a number of maternal health behaviours and experiences did show associations, independent of confounders.Not maternally reported medical complications of pregnancy and delivery, but maternal prenatal health behaviours predicted expression of psychosis along a continuum in adolescence. This effect may either be direct or constitute a proxy for later postnatal maternal behaviours associated with psychosis risk in the offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]