ArticleJournal of affective disorders2018
Prenatal maternal mood patterns predict child temperament and adolescent mental health.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prenatal stress and externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological bulletin · 2024Pooled it
- Risk of Depression in the Adolescent and Adult Offspring of Mothers With Perinatal Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2020Pooled it
- Prenatal Origins of Stress Regulation: Maternal Psychological Distress and Inflammation During Pregnancy Prospectively Predict Infant Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Loss of pleasure (Anhedonia): A sex-dependent, cross-species consequence of unpredictable signals to the perinatal brain.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Neighborhood risks, maternal parenting entropy, and child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2026Article
- Developmental origins of ADHD: sex-specific influences of early life unpredictability on symptom profiles.Journal of developmental origins of health and disease · 2026Article
- Intergenerational effects of the microbiota on neurodevelopment: mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Review
- Anhedonia buffers the effects of early-life unpredictability on threat-reward decision-making.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Maternal depression across childhood and offspring young adult depression and anxiety: Testing adolescent emotion dynamics as transdiagnostic mechanisms.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Maternal mood entropy and children's hippocampal development: Enduring versus transient effects.Development and psychopathology · 2026Article
- Discrepancies between self- and partner-reported maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy: roles of maternal attachment and partner depressive symptoms.Attachment & human development · 2026Article
- Developmental origins of immune function: Maternal prenatal mood is associated with infant immune cell gene expression.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Psychological symptom clusters in pregnant women: a scoping review.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Unpredictability is a childhood adversity that contributes to mental health problems.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Prenatal maternal mood instability and child externalizing problems: An ecological momentary assessment study.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Sex-Specific Effects of Early-Life Unpredictability on Hippocampal and Amygdala Responses to Novelty in Adolescents.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Sensitive periods and other timing hypotheses in developmental psychopathology: A tutorial.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Romantic Attachment Styles, Harsh Parenting Behavior, and Children's Emotional Reactivity: A Process Model.International journal of behavioral development · 2025Article
- Contribution of an under-recognized adversity to child health risk: large-scale, population-based ACEs screening.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- The impact of maternal disgust sensitivity from pregnancy until 3 years postpartum on the early development of disgust sensitivity in the child.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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7 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThis study quantifies the dynamics of maternal mood focusing on unpredictability, and to assess if greater unpredictability of prenatal maternal mood predicts child temperament and internalizing symptoms through early adolescence.
methodsThe association between prenatal mood predictability and child internalizing symptoms were assessed in two longitudinal cohorts (N's = 227 and 180). Maternal mood was assessed repeatedly during pregnancy as early as 15 weeks' gestation. Predictability of maternal mood was calculated by applying Shannon's entropy to the distribution of responses on mood questionnaires. Maternal reports of child negative affectivity (a predictor of later internalizing) were collected at 6, 12, 24 months and 7 years of age. Child self-reports of anxiety symptoms were collected at 10 years and reports of depression symptoms at 13 years.
resultsFetal exposure to more elevated maternal mood entropy predicted higher levels of child negative affectivity at 12 months (r = .36; p < 01), 24 months (r = .31; p < 01) and 7 years (r = .32; p < 01) of age. In addition, children exposed to higher prenatal maternal mood entropy, reported higher levels of anxiety symptoms at 10 years (r = .24; p < 01) and elevated depressive symptoms at 13 years (r = .29; p < .01). These associations persisted after adjusting for maternal pre and postnatal mood valence (e.g. depression levels) and for other relevant demographic characteristics.
conclusionsOur findings provide strong support for the notion that patterns of maternal mood influence the developing brain. More specifically, they suggest that prenatal maternal mood predictability may be a critical predictor of developmental mental health trajectories and should be considered when assessing early life influences on lifespan mental health.
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