File this one under Studies We Don’t Exactly Know What to Do With:
A study from Columbia University Vagelos College
of Physicians and Surgeons and New
York–Presbyterian claims that maternal stress during pregnancy may
actually affect fetal and child development — including the sex of your baby. Hey,
there are currently studies out there searching for the
“gay gene” too, so just go with it.
The study appeared online in PNAS, the journal
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Catherine Monk, Ph.D.,
is a professor of medical psychology at Vagelos College as well as director of
women’s mental health at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at New
York–Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Monk served as the
study leader.
“The
womb is an influential first home, as important as the one a child is raised
in, if not more so,” Monk said of the reasoning behind the study. We beg to
differ with Monk, as the womb is a short-term rental, more like an AirBnB stay
for baby. The family one is born into is, well, a life sentence, if we’re being
frank. But we get the idea: The stress levels of a mother-to-be may affect a fetus more than
previously realized.
Monk and her colleagues studied in depth 27 indicators of stress
— including physical, emotional, psychosocial, lifestyle — in 187 healthy
pregnant women between the ages of 18 and 45. We were surprised to find that
only 17% (that’s just 32) of the pregnant women were psychologically under
stress, showing diagnosable levels of anxiety and depression. Another 16% (30
women) presented with high blood pressure or high caloric intake and were
considered physically stressed. The rest of the women were considered to be
healthy (67%, 125 women).
So
what of these numbers? Well, the research was intriguing: The sex ratio of male
births to female births in the stressed subsets of women showed more females
born.
“Other researchers have seen this pattern after social
upheavals, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, after which the
relative number of male births decreased,” Monk explained. “This stress in
women is likely of long-standing nature; studies have show that males are more
vulnerable to adverse prenatal environments, suggesting that highly stressed
women may be less likely to give birth to a male due to the loss of prior male
pregnancies, often without knowing they were pregnant.”
So…that double X chromosome is a powerhouse, is our takeaway.
(Can’t say we’re shocked, exactly. Have you met any women?)
The study offered other insights as well. For instance,
physically stressed moms were more likely to experience premature labor and
birth than unstressed moms. And fetuses showed “reduced heart rate—movement
coupling, an indicator of slower central nervous system development—compared
with unstressed mothers.”
Interestingly, the amount of social support offered to a mother
seemed to make it more likely that the mother would give birth to a male child.
But again, that would suggest that the mother-to-be was already receiving
plenty of everyday support before she presumably got pregnant — and the sex
organs of the baby were formed. A baby shower and spa day at 12 weeks pregnant
does not magically revert a female fetus to a male fetus, in other words. (Duh.)
So if all women are waited on hand and foot and screened daily
for depression, are we risking a planet full of men? Because, uh, it already
feels like we’re living ON A PLANET FULL OF MEN. I for one am happy to take
some hard knocks during pre- and early pregnancy to ensure a planet gets all
the females it needs.
Thirty percent of pregnant women in the study reported job
stress or mental illness issues, and that sort of stress is linked to premature
birth, which in turn is linked to higher rates of infant death and ADHD and
other issues in childhood.
“We know from animal studies that exposure to high levels of
stress can raise levels of stress hormones like cortisol in the uterus, which
in turn can affect the fetus,” Monk explained. “Stress can also affect the
mother’s immune system, leading to changes that affect neurological and
behavioral development in the fetus. What’s clear from our study is that maternal mental health matters, not only
for the mother but also for her future child.”
Yeah, but it also matters
if Dad has been pounding too many IPA
microbrews. Let’s just say there’s still a whole lot to unpack when
it comes to understanding fetal
development, and this is yet another study we’re taking lightly. No
one wants stress raining down on pregnant women, but maybe the human race has
found way to reset itself after wars and terrorist attacks and other violence
perpetuated (primarily) by men — by creating stress that actually limits how
many more males can enter the world. Not hard science, but definitely food for
thought.
