Nonetheless, these findings do not support the notion that maternal anxiety,depression, or nonspecific stress during pregnancy within normal limits poses a significant threat to early child development or behavioral regulation. In contrast,we find modest,although consistent, support that these aspects of maternal psychological functioning are associated with more optimal early child development. However, the beneficial effects attributable to prenatal psychological factors, when detected,were small, ranging from only 5.5 – 6.8% of the variance.In addition, we found no evidence that nonpregnancy-specific distress (i.e., stress, anxiety or depression) interferes with temperamental attributes related to attentional capacity or emotional regulation.
Our findings may provide relief to those concerned about the psychological implications for pregnant women of yet another pregnancy threat, in this case, causing women to worry about worrying(Oates, 2002).