Unintended Pregnancy Increases Risk of Depression In Child

Unexpected pregnancies can increase the risk of depressive symptoms in the child during early adulthood. This may not be the case for the children from intended pregnancies. But there's little evidence of a causal relationship, according the results of a newly published study by a University at Buffalo sociologist. // Jessica Su, an assistant professor in UB's Department of Sociology, says the association between fertility intentions and depressive symptoms is more likely due to the mother's socioeconomic background and the accompanying lack of access to resources and services.

"Although the research doesn't suggest a causal link, that doesn't imply that unintended childbearing is without lasting effects on children," says Su, who specializes in the study of American family life and inequality.

"In fact, I think it's an important characteristic of the family environment that contextualizes the child's development. It's an indicator of the importance of social resources over the developing life course."

Just over one-third of all births in the U.S. are unintended, a particularly high figure compared to other developed countries. As a sociologist, Su says her immediate questions center on the causes and consequences.

"This has driven a lot of my research, especially because people in disadvantaged populations are much more likely to have unintended pregnancies," she says. "So understanding this as a social problem is key in terms of overall social inequality."

Existing research has established that children resulting from unintended pregnancies generally have poorer health and development than children from intended pregnancies. Their mothers are less likely to get timely prenatal care and they may have poor parent-child relationships.

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Since unintended births predict risk factors in childhood, Su asks how that might inform the child's young adult years. What happens in the long-term? It's a question researchers have rarely, and not recently, raised.

Su said, "Even though the causal link isn't there, being the child of an unintended pregnancy still makes a difference," says Su. "That difference is likely to be more than the result of pregnancy status."

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Source-Eurekalert