Figure 1.

Psychological stress during pregnancy is hypothesized to be a common pathway through which life history, current events, environmental conditions, physical and mental health, and other factors influence stress-sensitive aspects of gestational biology, including immune functioning. Psychological stress during pregnancy has potential to both mediate and moderate these other influences on gestational biology (e.g. impacts of psychological stress on metabolism would lead to consideration of stress as a moderator of the effects of birth parent nutrition on gestational biology). Direct pathways also exist from these other factors to gestational biology, but we highlight the role of psychological stress here as a potentially modifiable factor. Evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions are hypothesized to reduce inflammation via reduction in psychological stress during pregnancy.