The Effects of Prenatal Stress on Offspring Development

This chapter outlines the essential features of normal prenatal brain development in humans, reviews the primary methods for studying brain development, summarizes findings on the effects and mechanisms of prenatal stress (PS), and considers factors that might buffer against PS and promote resilience. Because experimental studies of typical and atypical fetal brain development are neither easy nor ethical with human subjects, animal models provide an essential tool for understanding PS effects. Animal experiments allow researchers to systematically manipulate the type, timing, and intensity of the stressor and test for differential effects on offspring development at the behavioral, anatomical, and cellular level of the brain. To test for PS effects on offspring brain and behavior development, investigators have looked for converging evidence from animal and human studies. The chapter summarizes results in both domains of research.