Prenatal Stress and the Effect of Child Psychopathology

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The Prenatal Environment and its impact on Child Psychopathology Dawn Jackson CCPX 5034 Child Psychopathology October 24, 2012 Abstract For centuries, psychologists have been trying to determine the various causes of mental illness in children. Research has demonstrated that there are several factors that contribute to psychological problems in children and introduce theories that range from environmental and social risk factors to health and emotional risk factors. Research has also shown that the prenatal environment has a strong correlation to mental illness in children. In this essay, the author will elaborate on this theory and highlight the specifics of prenatal stress and the mental impact on the offspring. Barker’s (1995) hypothesis of fetal programming has pioneered the research in the field of fetal origins of disease at adult age. The hypothesis states that the environment in uteri can alter the development of the fetus during particular sensitive periods and have a permanent effect on the physiological systems and the phenotype in later years. The prenatal environment can be affected by external prenatal factors, such as maternal smoking (Cnattingius, Granath, Petersson, & Harlow, 1999), maternal alcohol intake (Henriksen et al., 2004), and maternal use of drugs during pregnancy (Thadani et al., 2004), all of which can result in worse birth outcomes. In addition to this, the in utero environment can be influenced by internal prenatal factors, such as prenatal maternal stress, which can have long-lasting consequences on the development of the offspring (Gitau, Fisk, & Glover, 2001; Huizink, Mulder, & Buitelaar, 2004a; Weinstock, 2001). The impact of prenatal tobacco use on child development It is common knowledge that smoking, drinking alcohol and using illegal drugs during pregnancy can lead to serious health
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