Researchers find link between bereavement during pregnancy, child’s mental health

Stanford Medical Center Report highlights research showing a causal link between fetal stress exposure and mental health later in life. One of the researchers is Petra Persson, affiliated to IFN, and the data in the study are Swedish: “Our study offers complementary evidence linking early-life circumstance to adult mental health, but breaks new ground by focusing on stress, which may be more pertinent than malnutrition in modern developed countries such as the United States and Sweden, and by tracing health outcomes throughout the time period between the fetal shock and adulthood.”