Infant Neurodevelopment is Affected by Prenatal Maternal Stress: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

Abstract

Research shows that prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) negatively affects a range of infant outcomes; yet no single study has explored the effects of stress in pregnancy from a natural disaster on multiple aspects of infant neurodevelopment. This study examined the effects of flood‐related stress in pregnancy on 6‐month‐olds' neurodevelopment and examined the moderating effects of timing of the stressor in gestation and infant sex on these outcomes. Women exposed to the 2011 Queensland (Australia) floods in pregnancy completed surveys on their flood‐related objective and subjective experiences at recruitment and reported on their infants' neurodevelopment on the problem solving, communication, and personal–social scales of the Ages and Stages‐III at 6 months postpartum (N = 115). Interaction results showed that subjective flood stress in pregnancy had significantly different effects in boys and girls, and that at high levels of stress girls had significantly lower problem solving scores than boys. Timing of the flood later in pregnancy predicted lower personal–social scores in the sample, and there was a trend (p < .10) for greater objective flood exposure to predict lower scores. PNMS had no effect on infants' communication skills. In conclusion, differential aspects of maternal flood‐related stress in pregnancy influenced aspects of 6‐month‐olds' neurodevelopment.

Infant Behavior and Competence Following Prenatal Exposure to a Natural Disaster: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

“…As its effect reduced further after controlling for maternal depressive symptoms in the adjusted model, this may indicate a specific association of flood‐related PNMS with this outcome, beyond the influence of nonflood stressful life events during pregnancy. Although association of stress during pregnancy with aspects of child social functioning conflicts with some existing studies (Karam et al., ; Kvalevaag et al., ), the current results are consistent with delayed acquisition of social competencies in infants of mothers higher in prenatal trait anxiety (Koutra, ) and maternal subjective distress in the QF2011 cohort (Simcock, Kildea, et al., ; Simcock, Laplante, et al., ). Together, these findings lend support to an enduring effect of PNMS on offspring social–emotional development from early infancy to toddlerhood.…”

“…Results to date suggest that children exposed to the Queensland floods prenatally demonstrate alterations in development across a range of domains (Austin et al., ; Moss et al., ; Simcock, Laplante, et al., ). Regarding behavioral development, mothers reporting greater flood‐related objective hardship (e.g., extent of property damage), and subjective stress (peritraumatic, posttraumatic, and cognitive reactions) were more likely to describe their 6‐month‐old infants as exhibiting more difficult aspects of temperament, with the specific impacts dependent on infant sex and timing of exposure (Simcock, Elgbeili, et al., ).…”

“…At 4 years old, greater flood‐related objective hardship significantly predicted higher anxiety symptoms and was marginally associated with greater internalizing symptoms (McLean et al., ). Regarding social development, there was a trend for objective hardship to be associated with delayed acquisition of personal–social skills at 6 months (Simcock, Laplante, et al., ), while greater subjective stress predicted less‐developed theory of mind at 30 months (Simcock, Kildea, et al., ). It is unclear how increased risk due to exposure to PNMS may have manifested for this cohort's behavioral development during late infancy.…”

Sex Differences in Vulnerability to Prenatal Stress: a Review of the Recent Literature

“…Three papers reported data from the Queensland Flood Study. Simcock et al ( N  = 115) found a sex interaction in the association between disaster-related PNMS and child problem solving at age 6 months, with girls having poorer problem solving than boys at high levels of prenatal stress [48]. In contrast, Moss et al ( N  = 145) found no evidence of sex dependence in the association between PNMS and adolescent cognitive development [66].…”

The Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress on Early Temperament: The 2011 Queensland Flood Study

“…37 Even within the QF2011 cohort, we have found that higher subjective stress has predicted better fine motor development at 2 months of age 20 and improved problem solving among boys at 6 months of age. 38…”