Prenatal exposure to stressful life events and offspring social cognition across childhood and adolescence

Background: Exposure to adverse life events (ALE) during the prenatal and early postnatal period has been linked to social cognition impairments in offspring, but whether effects differ by developmental stage and domain of social cognition remains unclear. This study examined the role of maternal ALE exposure from early pregnancy to 8 weeks postpartum in offspring social communication and emotion recognition from childhood to adolescence. Methods: Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were used. Social cognition was assessed using the Social Communication Disorders Checklist (SCDC) at ages 8, 11, 14, and 17, alongside emotion recognition tasks: the Diagnostic Analysis of Non-Verbal Accuracy (DANVA) (age 8) and Emotional Triangles (age 14). Growth curve modeling and regression analyses examined associations between maternal ALE and child social cognition, adjusting for key demographic and maternal factors. Results: Greater ALE exposure was associated with poorer social communication ( b = 0.013, SE = 0.005, p < .05) and a slower rate of improvement ( b = 0.001, SE = 0.000, p < .001). ALE exposure was unrelated to DANVA but predicted better Emotional Triangles performance ( b = 0.015, SE = 0.007, p < .05). Conclusions: Prenatal adversity has lasting effects on offspring social communication, while its influence on emotion recognition appears weaker and less consistent.