An international consortium of researchers have identified particular sources of prenatal stress, as experienced by mothers, that have a direct effect on a child’s subsequent mental health. The findings emerged from the DREAM-BIG (Developmental Research in Environmental Adversity, Mental health, BIological susceptibility and Gender) project, and are published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
The general affective symptoms, which relate to the overall mood of the mother, during pregnancy are predictive of mental health problems that emerge between the ages of four and eight. Some fifty-percent of mental health disorders emerge before the age of five, while seventy-five-percent are evident before adulthood. To offer perspective on the burden of mental health problems, on a global basis, they constitute the leading cause of disability.