4 Troubled Teens Blog

Teen Aggression Tied to Moms Mood During Pregnancy

Postnatal depression, and its effects on infants, gets a lot of attention. But a new study has found that moms mood during pregnancy deserves some attention, too.

A Feb. 5 article on MSNBC.com provided the following details about the study, which was led by Dale F. Hay, a professor of psychology at Cardiff University in Wales:
  • The researchers reviewed data on 120 British teens and their parents from inner-city areas. The youth were interviewed at 4, 11 and 16 years of age.
  • About one-third of expecting moms were considered depressed during pregnancy, which is higher than the current worldwide estimate of about 18 percent of pregnant women
  • Teens born to mothers who were depressed during pregnancy were four times more likely than others to show violent behaviors by age 16.
  • While 8.5 percent of teens born to chipper expecting moms showed the antisocial behaviors, about 29 percent of those born to depressed moms showed the same.

Labels: pregnancy, depression, research, aggression

Posted By: Aspen/CRC

Comments:

brad yomen on 2/25/2010
Amazing. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more research on this one. Perhaps we should start taking prenatal issues more seriously!