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If you find yourself constantly tripping, falling, and dropping things, you may have your mother to blame for it.
And it may not even be for the reason you think.
A new study in Australia found that when a woman undergoes stress during her pregnancy, it can increase the possibility of poor motor skills and coordination deficits later in life.
The study was done on 2,900 Australian mothers. They were tested at 18 and 34 weeks of preganancy for stressful events like a family member’s death, a move, pregnancy issues, or divorce.
Then, when the children of these pregnancies were 10, 14, and 17, they were tested for motor development and coordination.
This included tests like hand strength, heel-toe walking, and standing on one foot.
The mothers who experienced stressful events, and especially the ones who experienced three or more, had offspring with poorer coordination test results, no matter the age.
Of course, this may not really mean very much—after all, according to the head of the developmental and behavioral pediatrics department at a New York hospital said that the skills tested for “may not necessarily matter much in life,” in comparison to shoe-tying or being able to button things.
General clumsiness isn’t really something to worry about, then. But it is an interesting connection, and one that study co-author Beth Hands believes needs to be addressed. She says that the clumsiness seen in these kids suggests that more programs are needed to help reduce maternal stress in pregnancy. It goes hand in hand with another study, which found that mother’s stress shows up in children’s DNA.
Pregnancy is a stressful time for anyone, so it’s not feasible to reduce all stress, but taking some of the pressure off pregnant moms may do their children a favor in the future.
