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Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy?
Posted on Wednesday, November 16 @ 15:07:51 EST by | 
BeeBee writes "A study of 100 children indicate that children exposed to high levels of testosterone in utero (due to the mothers' stress during the pregnancy) tend to have behavior consistant with ASD.
A stress-free pregnancy can deliver a popular child
by TAHIRA YAQOOB, Daily Mail
10:03am 9th November 2005
Stress free mum: ensures a happy child
All mothers-to-be wonder what kind of adult their baby will become.
Will their child grow into a sociable creature, for instance, bonding easily with others? Or will he or she struggle to make friends?
Scientists now believe they have discovered the key to ensuring a child's success in forming relationships - their mother must avoid stress while pregnant.
Stressed mothers-to-be produce more of the male hormone testosterone, thought to be responsible for poor people and communication skills and even the condition autism.
So the secret to having a more sociable baby is to relax during pregnancy, say researchers.
The impact of stress on babies in the womb from as early as 13 weeks is thought to be so great it can lead to children being slower at picking up language skills, finding it harder to form relationships and being more inclined to develop obsessional traits.
In the extreme, they could show symptoms of autism, a neurological condition characterised by a difficulty in developing relationships and being obsessed with routine.
Foetuses produce testosterone naturally but are also affected by levels of the hormone in the surrounding amniotic fluid which come from the mother.
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of Cambridge University's autism research centre, revealed his findings yesterday at a conference in London examining whether women made better leaders.
His team studied 100 children, from early in the womb to the age of seven, to see how testosterone levels have affected their development.
They found that even 24 hours after being born, boys - who have up to ten times as much testosterone as girls - were showing less interest in people and more interest in mechanical objects than females.
At 12 months, babies with higher levels of the hormone in the womb had poor eye contact with their parents.
And at 18 months, children with high pre-natal testosterone could not talk or had a limited vocabulary while other youngsters spoke up to 600 words.
When they started school, children with higher levels were finding it more difficult to socialise.
Professor Baron-Cohen said while testosterone was partly genetic, it was also present in fluctuating amounts in the amniotic fluid.
He added: "The mother's level of stress is a factor in the testosterone level and makes it go up. We do not know what percentage of that level is genetic.
"What we do know is that the higher the level in the womb, the slower children are at making eye contact and developing language.
"Less testosterone means better human relationships. The differences may become even clearer as the children in our study get older."
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 1)
by Neuroman Wednesday, November 16 @ 17:11:26 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) http://neurolands.com | | this does not seem to explain aspergers in which language skills are not delayed, as well as other conditions in which social skills are not different but other conditions on the spectrum are present.
a piece of the puzzle, but not the whole.
stress during pregnancy may be part of what creates at risk children, but i wonder what else contributes? |
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 1)
by yealc Sunday, November 20 @ 22:31:03 EST
(User Info | Send a Message | Journal) | | This seems strange to me. My NT daughter was born while I was under a lot of stress as it was a very high risk pregnacy and I almost lost my life. My AS son on the other hand was born when I felt more at peace than I had for some years. If I had stress with the AS son I was unaware of the fact I was however, much more active during that pregnancy.
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 1)
by astryngia Wednesday, December 07 @ 10:50:18 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) | | My son has recently been diagnosed with Aspergers. I was very stressed when I was pregnant. I've often thought of him as acting like a teenager since he was very tiny and if I'd been told he had high testosterone levels throughout his childhood, I wouldn't have been at all surprised.
Baron-Cohen seems to try to mould all his research into gender-based differences and I disagree with his theories - but the basis research about testosterone in the womb and links between testosterone and aspergers is very interesting to hear.
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 1)
by jesran Monday, December 19 @ 12:46:18 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Very interesting from an epidemiological perspective which has left the recent increased incidence of ASD unexplained...
It can be hardly disputed that modern women experience more stress than in the past. Mostly due to the addition of workplace responsibilites on top of the domestic, I think. Also, maybe survival of a modern women, in a general sense, requires more testosterone than it has in the past. I can find anectodotal evidence to support that.
Very interesting ideas, but nothing earth-shattering IMO.
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous Wednesday, December 21 @ 17:47:49 EST | | The article is muddled, in a manner typical of newspaper accounts. I wonder whether the underlying research is equally muddled. |
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 1)
by oxonianpink Friday, February 17 @ 16:32:51 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) | | i am a mother to a 3 year old with an asd. my pregnancy was the least stressful most beautiful time of my life, and my son was born at home with no drugs or complications really easily. it's so bloody easy to say it happened in the womb, my womb and that somehow the mother is to blame. aaaaargh! come on guys you can do better than that! i don't doubt that testosterone is involved to some degree, but give us mums a break. my son is my son and he was concieved the personality that he is and i love him. if i had the choice of predicting my son's social difficulties via a test whilst i was pregnant i wouldn't have taken it. i wasn't stressed, i am now though. |
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Re: Autism caused by stress mother feels during pregnancy? (Score: 1)
by econom25 Friday, March 28 @ 05:28:45 EDT
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