Cited by 140Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentFamily Support in Illness

Fetal and Infant Outcomes in the Offspring of Parents With Perinatal Mental Disorders: Earliest Influences

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Aktar, Evin, Qu, Jin, Lawrence, Peter J., Tollenaar, Marieke S., Elzinga, Bernet M., Bögels, Susan M.·2019·Frontiers in Psychiatry

Abstract

Mental illness is highly prevalent and runs in families. Mental disorders are considered to enhance the risk for the development of psychopathology in the offspring. This heightened risk is related to the separate and joint effects of inherited genetic vulnerabilities for psychopathology and environmental influences. The early years of life are suggested to be a key developmental phase in the intergenerational psychopathology transmission. Available evidence supports the idea that early exposure to parental psychopathology, during the pregnancy and first postpartum year, may be related to child psychological functioning beyond the postpartum period, up to adulthood years. This not only highlights the importance of intervening early to break the chain of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology but also raises the question of whether early interventions targeting parental mental disorders in this period may alleviate these prolonged adverse effects in the infant offspring. The current article focuses on the specific risk of psychopathology conveyed from mentally ill parents to the offspring during the pregnancy and first postpartum year. We first present a summary of the available evidence on the associations of parental perinatal mental illness with infant psychological outcomes at the behavioral, biological, and neurophysiological levels. Next, we address the effects of early interventions and discuss whether these may mitigate the early intergenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology. The summarized evidence supports the idea that psychopathology-related changes in parents' behavior and physiology in the perinatal period are related to behavioral, biological, and neurophysiological correlates of infant psychological functioning in this period. These alterations may constitute risk for later development of child and/or adult forms of psychopathology and thus for intergenerational transmission. Targeting psychopathology or mother-infant interactions in isolation in the postnatal period may not be sufficient to improve outcomes, whereas interventions targeting both maternal psychopathology and mother-infant interactions seem promising in alleviating the risk of early transmission.

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  1. [35]Seeley S Murray L Cooper PJ The outcome for mothers and babies of health visitor intervention. Health Visit (1996) 69(4): 135–8.
  2. [111]Bowlby J Attachment. Attachment and loss: vol. 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books, (1969). https://www.abebe.org.br/files/John-Bowlby-Attachment-Second-Edition-Attachment-and-Loss-Series-Vol-1-1983.pdf
  3. [116]Main M Solomon J Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In: Greenberg MT Cicchetti D Cummings EM, editors. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on mental health and development. Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press (1990). p. 121–60.

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Authors
Aktar, E., Qu, J., Lawrence, P. J., Tollenaar, M. S., Elzinga, B. M., & Bögels, S. M.
Affiliations
  • Leiden University (NL)
  • Pennsylvania Western University (US)
  • University of Southampton (GB)
  • University of Amsterdam (NL)
Corresponding author
Aktar, Evin
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Published
2019-06-27
Volume
10
Pages
391-391
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2954391367
Cited by
140
References
269
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 9
FWCI
2.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
  • Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
Keywords
perinatal mental disorders, intergenerational transmission of psychopathology, offspring psychopathology, postpartum period, mother-infant interaction, early intervention, maternal psychopathology, neurophysiological correlates, behavioral risk factors

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