Stressed Mother's Babies More Likely To Be Bullied at School

Stressed mothers not only give birth to babies who are susceptible to stress themselves, but may also make them vulnerable to bullying.

According to a new study, stress and mental health problems during pregnancy affects a baby directly by escalating the chances of the child being bullied later in life.

The research conducted at the University of Warwick studied 8,829 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and was led by Professor Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick Medical School.

According to Professor Wolke, "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 fetus' own stress response system.

"Changes in the stress response system can affect behaviour and how children react emotionally to stress such as being picked on by a bully. Children who more easily show a stress reaction such as crying, running away, and anxiety are then selected by bullies to home in to."

The prime factors for prenatal stress were severe family problems, such as financial difficulty or 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."

The study has been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.