ArticlePsychological medicine2023
Prenatal maternal stress, child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and the moderating role of parenting: findings from the Norwegian mother, father, and child cohort study.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between parenting difficulties in children with autism and parental anxiety and the moderating role of parenting stress.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- How does parental involvement influence students' wellbeing? A moderated mediated model.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Predicting 5-year-olds mental health at birth: development and internal validation of a multivariable model using the prospective ELFE birth cohort.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Article
- Prospective associations of prenatal stress with child behavior: Moderation by the early childhood caregiving environment.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Prenatal maternal stress: triangulating evidence for intrauterine exposure effects on birth and early childhood outcomes across multiple approaches.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- The Association Between Prenatal Maternal Stress and Adolescent Affective Outcomes is Mediated by Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Behavioral Inhibition System Sensitivity.Child psychiatry and human development · 2024Article
- Prenatal stress and gestational epigenetic age: No evidence of associations based on a large prospective multi-cohort study.Research square · 2024Article
- Multiple Risk in Pregnancy- Prenatal Risk Constellations and Mother-Infant Interactions, Parenting Stress, and Child Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors: A Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study from Pregnancy to 18 Months Postpartum.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2024Article
- Associations between prenatal maternal stress, maternal inflammation during pregnancy, and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms throughout childhood.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2023Article
- Intergenerational risk and resilience pathways from discrimination and acculturative stress to infant mental health.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- A Multi-Cohort Examination of the Independent Contributions of Maternal Childhood Adversity and Pregnancy Stressors to the Prediction of Children's Anxiety and Depression.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2023Article
- Mapping gene by early life stress interactions on child subcortical brain structures: A genome-wide prospective study.JCPP advances · 2022Article
- Maternal stress, child behavior and the promotive role of older siblings.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Early risk for child externalising symptoms: Examining genetic, prenatal, temperamental and parental influences.Infant and child developmentArticle
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundFew 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.
methodsThis 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.
resultsPrenatal 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.
conclusionsThis 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.
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