Linking maternal childhood maltreatment to health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy: intergenerational implications for early child development.

Background

The experience of childhood maltreatment of women has been identified as an important predictor for the occurrence of health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy that might increase the risk for mental health problems in offspring. Little is known yet about how different types of maternal childhood maltreatment contribute to the occurrence of these health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy.

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate how specific types of childhood maltreatment (emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect) relate to the occurrence of health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy.Method: A sample of N = 305 pregnant women in their second or third trimester, drawn from the general German-speaking population, completed an online survey assessing childhood maltreatment and a range of health-related (e.g. medical complications) and psychosocial (e.g. maternal antenatal depression) factors. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the specific predictive effect of each type of childhood maltreatment on different health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy.

Results

The regression analyses indicated that the combined predictor emotional abuse/neglect predicted health-related and psychosocial factors during pregnancy, including perceived stress, antenatal depression, relationship quality and psychiatric symptoms. Sleep problems were predicted by sexual abuse. Sensitivity analyses with emotional abuse and emotional neglect as separate predictors revealed emotional abuse as the only significant predictor of perceived stress, antenatal depression and psychiatric symptoms.

Conclusions

Future research should focus on the underlying mechanisms linking emotional abuse and neglect to health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy. Routine screening for childhood maltreatment and early interventions for women who experienced emotional abuse and neglect in childhood may substantially reduce the occurrence of health-related and psychosocial risk factors during pregnancy that might affect children's mental health, thereby promoting healthy psychological development in offspring.