Читать книгу Child Psychology - Jean-Pascal Assailly - Страница 71

Structural and functional brain imaging data have shown that higher levels of prenatal cortisol are associated with amygdala hyper-reactivity and increased amygdala volumes in girls only; an elevated concentration of prenatal cortisol has also been positively associated with affective problems in girls only, an effect that has in part been induced by right amygdala volume and increased amygdala connectivity.

Thus, there is an association between prenatal stress and HPA axis function, postnatal HPA axis regulation and offspring anxiety and depression behaviors in both rats and humans, linked to sex.

Consequently, the low antisocial behavioral problems observed in girls compared with boys during childhood and the increase in anxiety-depressive symptoms, particularly depressive symptoms observed in girls after puberty, could be due to the same cause.