8legs: City university of new york (cuny)

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Stress during pregnancy? Early skills may help children cope

A small CUNY-Queens College study used prenatal exposure to Superstorm Sandy as a model to examine how early-life stress may shape brain development before birth.
Between ages 2 and 6, researchers tracked everyday skills such as communication, self-care, and social behavior to gauge developmental impact.
At age 8, brain imaging revealed that stressed-exposed children with higher adaptive skills showed brain activity resembling that of non-exposed peers in emotion-processing tasks.
Resilience appeared linked more to adaptive skills than prenatal stress alone, suggesting skills development supports brain resilience.
Children with lower adaptive skills showed reduced activity in key emotion-related brain regions, including the limbic system.
The authors propose early interventions focused on everyday skills to bolster brain resilience in children exposed to prenatal stress.
Findings are preliminary due to a small sample, underscoring the need for larger, more definitive studies.
Lead researcher Yoko Nomura cautions that rising disaster frequency may increase stress for pregnant women, influencing outcomes.
The study emphasizes building adaptive skills not only for behavior but also as a potential way to protect brain health.
The study uses prenatal exposure to a natural disaster as a model to explore potential long-term brain effects of early stress.
The research focused on emotion-related brain activity to assess resilience and how early adaptive skills may shape later outcomes.

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