Simcock G, Kildea S, Elgbeili G, Laplante D P, Cobham V, King S
1Mater Research Institute,University of Queensland,Brisbane,QLD,Australia.
4Schizophrenia and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Program,Douglas Mental Health University Institute,Verdun,QC,Canada.
J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2017 Aug;8(4):483-492. doi: 10.1017/S2040174417000186. Epub 2017 Mar 24.
Research shows that stress in pregnancy has powerful and enduring effects on many facets of child development, including increases in behavior problems and neurodevelopmental disorders. Theory of mind is an important aspect of child development that is predictive of successful social functioning and is impaired in children with autism. A number of factors related to individual differences in theory of mind have been identified, but whether theory of mind development is shaped by prenatal events has not yet been examined. In this study we utilized a sudden onset flood that occurred in Queensland, Australia in 2011 to examine whether disaster-related prenatal maternal stress predicts child theory of mind and whether sex of the child or timing of the stressor in pregnancy moderates these effects. Higher levels of flood-related maternal subjective stress, but not objective hardship, predicted worse theory of mind at 30 months (n=130). Further, maternal cognitive appraisal of the flood moderated the effects of stress in pregnancy on girls' theory of mind performance but not boys'. These results illuminate how stress in pregnancy can shape child development and the findings are discussed in relation to biological mechanisms in pregnancy and stress theory.
研究表明，孕期压力会对儿童发育的多个方面产生强大而持久的影响，包括行为问题增多和神经发育障碍。心理理论是儿童发育的一个重要方面，它预示着社会功能的成功，而自闭症儿童的心理理论会受损。已经确定了一些与心理理论个体差异相关的因素，但心理理论的发展是否受产前事件影响尚未得到研究。在本研究中，我们利用2011年发生在澳大利亚昆士兰州的突发洪水，来检验与灾难相关的产前母亲压力是否能预测儿童的心理理论，以及儿童性别或孕期压力源出现的时间是否会调节这些影响。洪水相关的母亲主观压力水平较高，但客观困难程度并非如此，这预测了30个月大儿童的心理理论表现较差（n = 130）。此外，母亲对洪水的认知评估调节了孕期压力对女孩心理理论表现的影响，但对男孩没有影响。这些结果阐明了孕期压力如何塑造儿童发育，并结合孕期的生物学机制和压力理论对研究结果进行了讨论。
