Chronic trauma in childhood can program an abnormal stress reaction, resulting in lifelong difficulties with stress management and poor health outcomes linked to changes in the immune system. At the same time, maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to childhood asthma. Given the potential for a mother's early life maltreatment to shape her later response to stress during pregnancy, we hypothesized that preschoolers would be more likely to have a wheeze or allergic disorder if their mother has a history of adversity. We found a significant positive association between a mother's early experience of household dysfunction and childhood wheeze. Maternal childhood psychological abuse was associated with children's allergies. In summary, stressful maternal childhood experiences are associated with the development of wheeze and allergy in children. These findings emphasize the necessity of services aimed at lowering the stress of new mothers and the value of inquiring about early life experiences.
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