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Studies show associations between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and child autism, with little attention paid to PNMS and autism in young adulthood. The broad autism phenotype (BAP), encompassing sub-clinical levels of autism, includes aloof personality, pragmatic language impairment and rigid personality. It remains unclear whether different aspects of PNMS explain variance in different BAP domains in young adult offspring. We recruited women who were pregnant during, or within 3 months of, the 1998 Quebec ice storm crisis, and assessed three aspects of their stress (i.e., objective hardship, subjective distress and cognitive appraisal). At age 19, the young adult offspring (n = 33, 22F / 11M) completed a BAP self-report. Linear and logistic regressions were implemented to examine associations between PNMS and BAP traits. Up to 21.4% of the variance in BAP total score and in BAP three domains tended to be explained by at least one aspect of maternal stress, For example, 16.8% of the variance in aloof personality tended to be explained by maternal objective hardship; 15.1% of the variance in pragmatic language impairment tended to be explained by maternal subjective distress; 20.0% of the variance in rigid personality tended to be explained by maternal objective hardship and 14.3% by maternal cognitive appraisal. Given the small sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution. In conclusion, this small prospective study suggests that different aspects of maternal stress could have differential effects on different components of BAP traits in young adults.
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Abstract Studies have shown that prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) affects brain structure and function in childhood. However, less research has examined whether PNMS effects on brain structure and function extend to young adulthood. We recruited women who were pregnant during or within 3 months following the 1998 Quebec ice storm, assessed their PNMS, and prospectively followed‐up their children. T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and resting‐state functional MRI were obtained from 19‐year‐old young adults with ( n = 39) and without ( n = 65) prenatal exposure to the ice storm. We examined between‐group differences in gray matter volume (GMV), surface area (SA), and cortical thickness (CT). We used the brain regions showing between‐group GMV differences as seeds to compare between‐group functional connectivity. Within the Ice Storm group, we examined (1) associations between PNMS and the atypical GMV, SA, CT, and functional connectivity, and (2) moderation by timing of exposure. Primarily, we found that, compared to Controls, the Ice Storm youth had larger GMV and higher functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus, the left occipital pole, and the right hippocampus; they also had larger CT, but not SA, of the left occipital pole. Within the Ice Storm group, maternal subjective distress during preconception and mid‐to‐late pregnancy was associated with atypical left occipital pole CT. These results suggest the long‐lasting impact of disaster‐related PNMS on child brain structure and functional connectivity. Our study also indicates timing‐specific effects of the subjective aspect of PNMS on occipital thickness.