Preconception stress exposure from childhood to adolescence and birth outcomes: The impact of stress type, severity and consistency.

The negative effects of prenatal stress on offspring health are well established, but there remains little understanding of the influence of stress prior to conception despite known effects on biological systems that are important for a healthy pregnancy. Furthermore, operational definitions of stress vary considerably, and exposure is often characterized summed, ordinal scales of events. We hypothesized that type, severity, and consistency of preconception stress would be associated with birthweight and gestational age (GA) at birth.