Objective

Observed associations between maternal prenatal stress and children’s socioemotional development have varied widely in the literature. The objective of the current study was to provide a synthesis of studies examining maternal prenatal anxiety and depression and the socioemotional development of their children.

Method

Eligible studies through to February 2018 were identified using a comprehensive search strategy. Included studies examined the association between maternal prenatal depression or anxiety and the future development of their children’s socioemotional development (eg, difficult temperament, behavioral dysregulation) up to 18 years later. Two independent coders extracted all relevant data. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to derive mean effect sizes and test for potential moderators.

Results

A total of 71 studies met full inclusion criteria for data analysis. The weighted average effect size for the association between prenatal stress and child socioemotional problems was as follows: odds ratio (OR) = 1.66 (95% CI = 1.54−1.79). Effect sizes were stronger for depression (OR = 1.79; 95% CI = 1.61−1.99) compared to anxiety (OR = 1.50; 95% CI = 1.36−1.64). Moderator analyses indicated that effect sizes were stronger when depression was more severe and when socio-demographic risk was heightened.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that maternal prenatal stress is associated with offspring socioemotional development, with the effect size for prenatal depression being more robust than for anxiety. Mitigating stress and mental health difficulties in mothers during pregnancy may be an effective strategy for reducing offspring behavioral difficulties, especially in groups with social disadvantage and greater severity of mental health difficulties.

中文翻译：

---

产前抑郁和焦虑对儿童社会情感发展的荟萃分析

客观的

在文献中，观察到的产前产妇压力与儿童的社会情感发展之间的关联差异很大。本研究的目的是提供研究母亲产前焦虑和抑郁以及其子女的社会情感发展的综合研究。

方法

使用全面的搜索策略确定了截至2018年2月的合格研究。包括在内的研究调查了长达18年的孕产妇产前抑郁或焦虑与孩子的社会情感发展的未来发展（例如，脾气困难，行为失调）之间的关系。两个独立的编码器提取了所有相关数据。随机效应荟萃分析用于得出平均效应大小并测试潜在的调节者。

结果

共有71项研究符合数据分析的完全纳入标准。产前压力与儿童社会情感问题之间的关联的加权平均效应大小如下：优势比（OR）= 1.66（95％CI = 1.54-1.79）。相较于焦虑（OR = 1.50； 95％CI = 1.36-1.64），抑郁症的效应大小更强（OR = 1.79； 95％CI = 1.61-1.99）。主持人的分析表明，当抑郁更为严重并且社会人口统计学风险升高时，效应大小会更大。

结论

研究结果表明，母亲的产前压力与后代的社会情感发展有关，产前抑郁的影响大小比焦虑更为明显。减轻母亲在怀孕期间的压力和心理健康困难可能是减少后代行为困难的有效策略，尤其是在社会弱势群体和精神卫生严重程度更高的人群中。