With respect to autonomic function, several significant,negative associations were detected between maternal psychological variables and cardiac measures. Children of women with more depressive symptoms and greater pregnancy-specific stress had shorter resting heart period (i.e., faster heart rates).Vagal tone was negatively associated with perceived stress. Associations were small in magnitude, with no correlation exceeding r5 0.25, and associations were not consistently detected even for measures of
the same psychological constructs. However, examination of the pattern of correlations in Table 8 suggests stronger associations for those measures that tap more persistent maternal characteristics as compared to measures that are mood based or based on
daily events.