Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 May;94(3):779-801.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.13885. Epub 2022 Dec 29.

Association between prenatal maternal anxiety and/or stress and offspring's cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis

Garance Delagneau  1 , E Sabrina Twilhaar  2 , Renee Testa  1   3 , Sarit van Veen  1 , Peter Anderson  1
Affiliations
Review

Association between prenatal maternal anxiety and/or stress and offspring's cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis

Garance Delagneau et al. Child Dev. 2023 May.

Abstract

This meta-analysis examined the relationship between prenatal maternal stress and/or anxiety and the outcomes of children aged 3 months to 9 years. Of the 8754 studies published before June 2021 that were synthesized, 17 conducted in Western countries were included in the meta-analysis (Ntotal = 23,307; Mmales 54%; Methnicity White 77%, Pacific 15%, African American/Black 10%, Middle Eastern 7%, Eastern 8%). Effect sizes ranged from -0.41 to 0.15. A weak negative association was found between prenatal stress and/or anxiety exposure and children's general intellectual development. Associations varied based on the type of exposure. Findings are limited to developed counties and cannot be generalized to low- and middle-income countries. Directions for maternal prenatal intervention and future studies are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
PRISMA study flow diagram for the systematic review. 1Some studies were excluded for more than one reason and thus reported more than once. 2Twenty‐nine studies were not included in the meta‐analysis because correlation coefficients could not be obtained from the published articles or authors.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Association between stress and/or anxiety and general intellectual skills in offspring.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Association between prenatal exposure to anxiety and executive functions in offspring.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Association between prenatal exposure to stress and general intellectual skills in offspring.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Acar, I. H. , Frohn, S. , Prokasky, A. , Molfese, V. J. , & Bates, J. E. (2019). Examining the associations between performance based and ratings of focused attention in toddlers: Are we measuring the same constructs? Infant and Child Development, 28(1), e2116. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anderson, V. A. , Anderson, P. , Northam, E. , Jacobs, R. , & Mikiewicz, O. (2002). Relationships between cognitive and behavioral measures of executive function in children with brain disease. Child Neuropsychology, 8(4), 231–240. - PubMed
    1. Anger, S. , & Heineck, G. (2010). Do smart parents raise smart children? The intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities. Journal of Population Economics, 23(3), 1105–1132.
    1. Appleyard, K. , Egeland, B. , van Dulmen, M. H. , & Alan Sroufe, L. (2005). When more is not better: The role of cumulative risk in child behavior outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(3), 235–245. - PubMed
    1. Austin, M. P. , Christl, B. , McMahon, C. , Kildea, S. , Reilly, N. , Yin, C. , Simcock, G. , Elgbeili, G. , Laplante, D. , & King, S. (2017). Moderating effects of maternal emotional availability on language and cognitive development in toddlers of mothers exposed to a natural disaster in pregnancy: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study. Infant Behavior and Development, 49, 296–309. - PubMed