Speaker Update Vivette Glover
Vivette Glover studied biochemistry at Oxford and obtained her PhD from London University. She then worked in biological psychiatry at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital . More recently she has applied this expertise to the problems of mothers and babies and is currently Professor of Perinatal Psychobiology, Imperial College, London.
She runs the ‘Fetal and Neonatal Stress Research Group.
Update since 2006 Conference
Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Predicts Cognitive Ability and Fearfulness in Infancy
Kristin Bergman, B.A., Pampa Sarkar, M.D., Thomas G O’Connor, PhD
Neena Modi, M.D., and Vivette Glover, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To examine the effects of prenatal stress on cognition and behavioral fearfulness in infants.
Method: Mothers were recruited at amniocentesis at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, London, between 2001 and 2005, and recalled when their children were 14 to 19 months to assess cognitive development using the Bayley Scales and fearfulness using the Lab-TAB. Measures of prenatal and postnatal life events and current psychological state were collected at the postnatal visit.
Results: Prenatal stress predicted both mental development (r s =j0.39, n = 123 p < .0001) and observed fearfulness (r s = 0.33, n = 106, p < .001); the magnitude of effect was essentially unchanged after covarying postnatal stressors, maternal education and psychological state, exposures to medications and substances during pregnancy, and birth outcomes. Prenatal stress accounted for 17% of the variance in cognitive ability and 10% of the variance in observed fearfulness. The correlation between mental development and fearfulness was minimal (r = j0.06, not significant). Prenatal partner relationship strain accounted for 73.5% and 75.0% of the prenatal stress related variance on infant cognitive and fearfulness scores, respectively.
Conclusions: These findings strengthen previous research that suggests that fetal programming can be important for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes. They imply that the mechanisms by which mental development and fearfulness are affected are different and that prenatal stress due to relationship strain may warrant particular attention.
J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2007;46(11):1454-63
Antenatal maternal stress and long-term effects on child neurodevelopment: how and why?
Nicole M. Talge, Charles Neal, Vivette Glover,
ABSTRACT
We review a significant body of evidence from independent prospective studies that if a mother is stressed while pregnant, her child is substantially more likely to have emotional or cognitive problems, including an increased risk of attentional deficit/hyperactivity, anxiety, and language delay. These findings are independent of effects due to maternal postnatal depression and anxiety. We still do not know what forms of anxiety or stress are most detrimental, but research suggests that the relationship with the partner can be important in this respect. The magnitude of these effects is clinically significant, as the attributable load of emotional/behavioral problems due to antenatal stress and/or anxiety is approximately 15%. Animal models suggest that activity of the stress-responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its hormonal end-product cortisol are involved in these effects in both mother and offspring. The fetal environment can be altered if stress in the mother changes her hormonal profile, and in humans, there is a strong correlation between maternal and fetal cortisol levels. However,many problems remain in understanding the mechanisms involved in this interaction. For example, maternal cortisol responses to stress decline over the course of pregnancy, and earlier in pregnancy, the link between maternal and fetal cortisol is less robust. It is possible that the effects of maternal anxiety and stress on the developing fetus and child are moderated by other factors such as a maternal diet (e.g., protein load). It is suggested that extra vigilance or anxiety, readily distracted attention, or a hyperresponsive HPA axis may have been adaptive in a stressful environment during evolution, but exists today at the cost of vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48:3/4 (2007), pp 245–261
Quality of child–parent attachment moderates the impact of antenatal stress on child fearfulness K. Bergman, P. Sarkar, V. Glover, and T.G. O’Connor
Background: Animal studies have shown that prenatal stress has persisting effects on several aspects of offspring development; more recent studies show that this effect may be eliminated by positive postnatal rearing. Human studies of prenatal anxiety/stress are now also beginning to document links
between antenatal stress/anxiety and behavioural and cognitive development of the child; however, there is no human evidence as to whether the early caregiving environment moderates the effect of antenatal anxiety/stress on child outcomes.
Methods: Antenatal and postnatal measures of stress were collected on 123 women who were recruited from an antenatal clinic. Laboratory-based assessment of the children’s cognitive development and fearfulness were assessed when the children were aged 17 months. In addition, child–parent attachment quality was assessed using the Strange Situation.
Results: Attachment classification moderated the link between antenatal stress and observed fearfulness. The effect of antenatal stress on fearfulness was most accentuated in children with an Insecure/Resistant attachment classification; the significant antenatal stress • attachment classification interaction held after controlling for postnatal stress and obstetric, social and demographic factors. Attachment did not moderate the effects of antenatal anxiety on cognitive development.
Discussion: These findings provide the first human evidence that postnatal parenting may moderate the adverse effects of antenatal stress. These results raise developmental questions about the timing and effect of interventions to reduce the adverse effects of antenatal stress exposure.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2008), 49. pp1089–98