PRENATAL AND PERINATAL INFLUENCES ON RISK FOR PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

The relationship between a range of prenatal and perinatal events and risk for psychopathology in offspring was examined. Prenatal and perin atal events investigated included maternal experiences, health, and su bstance use during pregnancy, obstetric complications, feeding practic es, and infant health during the first year of life. Offspring diagnos is was based on structured interviews conducted with 579 adolescents o n two occasions. Risk for later psychopathology was associated with a number of prenatal and perinatal factors. Major depression was associa ted with not being breast fed and maternal emotional problems during t he pregnancy. Anxiety was chiefly associated with fever and illness du ring the first year of life and maternal history of miscarriage and st illbirth. Disruptive behavior disorder was associated with poor matern al emotional health during the pregnancy and birth complications. Risk for substance use disorder was associated with maternal use of substa nces during the pregnancy. Mediating effects of maternal depression, m aternal-child conflict, and physical symptoms in the child, and modera ting effects of gender of child and parental education were also evalu ated. The limitations of this study are discussed and future research directions are suggested.