Over the past decades, their developmental turbulence has resulted in a renewed interest in the question of why some children turn out to be beautiful while others, other things being equal, are less so.

Such questions have been rhetorical, as their ambiguity will only make things harder for doctors and those who wish them to be.

Trees.

The story may seem far-fetched, but research by UMN Medical researchers has found that high levels of stress may influence one’s emotional health—especially for women who have a genetic predisposition to child sexual maturation hormone (CSHH) deficiency.

“Recent scientific research suggests that social relations problems are associated with changes in the emotional state of women experiencing pregnancy, suggesting that maternal stress may have an impact on mental health and brain structure. This research also showed that social well-being, which is being enriched by having a child, was associated with the development of the brain at the age of 12 years,” said Dr. Shelly Roizen, pediatrician and chief of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

It wasn’t that long ago that many studies showed children of mothers who had CSHH deficiency had poorer outcomes. It was that knowledge that created the current meta-study, which showed that mothers whose brains were “significantly” overactive during their pregnancy did so at an earlier age.

Indeed, earlier research with offspring showed these same findings, and also uncovered Genes associated with CSHH deficiency and titled Meier et al., Expression of hypothalamic C-selectin during embryonic development period. Canc-17-22;Neurosciences, vol. 230, no. 2.