Stress during pregnancy is associated with developmental outcome in infancy

Self-report data about daily hassles and pregnancy-specific anxiety and salivary cortisol levels were collected in 170 nulliparous women in early, mid- and late pregnancy in a prospective design, in which healthy infants born at term were followed up after birth. High levels of pregnancy-specific anxiety in mid-pregnancy predicted lower mental and motor developmental scores at 8 months (p < .05). High amounts of daily hassles in early pregnancy were associated with lower mental developmental scores at 8 months (p < .05). Early morning values of cortisol in late pregnancy were negatively related to both mental and motor development at 3 months (p < .05 and p < .005, respectively) and motor development at 8 months (p < .01). On average a decline of 8 points on the mental and motor development scale was found. All results were adjusted for a large number of covariates.