Stressed pregnant women’s kids more likely to get bullied

Recent studies at the University of Warwick Medical School have discovered that women who are overly stressed whilst pregnant have children who are more likely to be bullied at school.

This research has been based on 8,829 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and has been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

It shows that children resulting from a pregnancy in which the mother has shown signs of serious stress and mental health problems have an increased risk of being victimised in later life, as the developing baby is likely to be affected.

In previous studies, it has been revealed that stress during pregnancy could cause behavioural abnormalities in children. However, until now, the level of vulnerability to bullying was uncertain.

Professor Dieter Wolke, Professor of Developmental Psychology, was in charge of the study.

He said: “This is the first study to investigate stress in pregnancy and a child’s vulnerability to being bullied. When we are exposed to stress, large quantities of neurohormones are released into the blood stream, and in a pregnant woman this can change the developing foetus’ own stress response system.”

ALSPAC is a long-term health research project, and is also known as “Children of the 90s”. The aim of the project is to follow the health and development of the children involved in great detail. Over 14,000 mothers joined the project during pregnancy between 1991 and 1992.

In order to ascertain valid results, scientists evaluated maternal anxiety, family adversity, and depression during pregnancy and the postnatal period.

Parenting, temperament and partner conflict were also assessed, and peer victimisation was calculated by asking the child, teacher and parents questions when the young person under observation was between the ages of 7 and 10.

The research team have identified the main prenatal stress factors as severe family problems, including financial difficulty, alcohol/drug abuse, and maternal mental health.

Professor Wolke added: “The whole thing becomes a vicious cycle: a child with an altered stress response system is more likely to be bullied, which affects their stress response even further and increases the likelihood of them developing mental health problems in later life.”

There are concerns over the issue, as many believe that mothers in particular could be encouraged not to work during pregnancy. This might create a different but equally detrimental effect on the unborn child, as financial problems may evolve.