Subject(s)
Aging/psychology , Television , Aged , Humans , Social Behavior , Stereotyping , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Antenatal maternal anxiety has been shown to be related to infant temperament, childhood disorders, and impulsivity in adolescence. This study prospectively investigated whether antenatal maternal anxiety is associated with performance on a continuous performance task. Sixty-four adolescents (mean age, 15 y; 34 boys, 30 girls) were examined with a computerized continuous performance task (CPT) measuring sustained attention. Results showed that the CPT performance of boys of mothers with high levels of state anxiety during the 12th to 22nd postmenstrual week of pregnancy declined as the task progressed: their processing speed became slower and the variability in their reaction times increased. The study controlled for the possible confounding influences of postnatal maternal anxiety, the parents' educational level, and intelligence. Establishing a link between antenatal maternal anxiety and an objective measure of sustained attention/self-regulation, our results extend the growing evidence for an association between antenatal maternal anxiety and the neurobehavioral development of the offspring up into adolescence.
Subject(s)
Anxiety , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/etiology , Child of Impaired Parents , Maternal-Fetal Relations , Adolescent , Female , Humans , Male , Pregnancy , Task Performance and AnalysisSubject(s)
Aging/psychology , Object Attachment , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Death , Family Relations , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , ReligionABSTRACT
This study prospectively investigated the influence of antenatal maternal anxiety, measured with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory at 12-22, 23-31 and 32-40 postmenstrual weeks of pregnancy, on cognitive functioning in 57 adolescents (mean age 15 years). ANCOVAs showed effects of State anxiety at 12-22 weeks, after controlling for influences of State anxiety in later pregnancy and postnatal maternal Trait anxiety. Adolescents of high anxious pregnant women reacted impulsively in the Encoding task; they responded faster but made more errors than adolescents of low anxious women. They also scored lower on two administered WISC-R subtests. In the Stop task no differences in inhibiting ongoing responses were found between adolescents of high and low anxious pregnant women. We suspect that high maternal anxiety in the first half of pregnancy may negatively affect brain development of the fetus, reflected by impulsivity and lower WISC-R scores at 14-15 years.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders/physiopathology , Cognition/physiology , Impulsive Behavior/physiopathology , Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data , Pregnancy Complications , Adolescent , Analysis of Variance , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Impulsive Behavior/psychology , Language Tests , Male , Personality Inventory , Postmenopause , Pregnancy , Prospective Studies , Sex Factors , Time Factors , Verbal Behavior/physiologyABSTRACT
Associations between antenatal maternal anxiety, measured with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, and disorders in 8- and 9-year-olds were studied prospectively in 71 normal mothers and their 72 firstborns. Clinical scales were completed by the mother, the child, the teacher, and an external observer. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that maternal state anxiety during pregnancy explained 22%, 15%, and 9% of the variance in cross-situational attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms, externalizing problems, and self-report anxiety, respectively, even after controlling for child's gender, parents' educational level, smoking during pregnancy, birth weight, and postnatal maternal anxiety. Anxiety at 12 to 22 weeks postmenstrual age turned out to be a significant independent predictor whereas anxiety at 32 to 40 weeks was not. Results are consistent with a fetal programming hypothesis.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/epidemiology , Mothers/psychology , Pregnancy Complications/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Child , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Pregnancy , Prospective Studies , Surveys and QuestionnairesSubject(s)
Aging/psychology , Spirituality , Aged , Attitude to Health , Geriatrics , Humans , Religion and Medicine , ResearchABSTRACT
Subjective well-being is an important and relevant theme in psychogerontological theory and practice. Against the background of the distinction between hedonistic and eudaimonic conceptions of well-being a six-dimensional relational model of subjective well-being is described. A new instrument for the measurement of psychological, physical, social, material, cultural and existential well-being was tested in a sample of 366 elderly persons (61% women) aged 60 years and older. After item analysis and exploratory factor analysis of the different scales, 56 items of the original 72 were retained for six more homogeneous scales with acceptable Cronbach's alphas between .89 en .61. Relations were found between the scores on different scales--especially on the scales for Physical, Psychological, Existential and Cultural Well-being--and some demographic and person-related variables such as, number of children, presence or absence of daughters, living independently, availability of friends, etc.
