Anxiety In Youth Can Begin Even Before Birth

Anxiety is a natural emotion that helps us stay alert to danger. But when the body prepares itself for an environment full of threats and this does not actually happen, this preparation can become a problem and cause unnecessary anxiety. Research shows that the stress experienced by the mother during pregnancy and the care provided in the first years of life can influence the development of the child's brain and increase the risk of anxiety in adolescence. Therefore, it is important to take care of mental health from the beginning of life, with support for parents and children.

Anxiety is a natural emotion that is necessary for our survival. From an evolutionary point of view, it emerged as a mechanism to keep individuals alert to possible dangers in the environment, such as predators or threatening situations. This state of readiness helps the body prepare to fight or flee, increasing the chances of survival.

In animals, for example, factors such as the presence of predators, lack of food or high population density generate stress. This stress can influence the development of offspring even before they are born, through signals transmitted by the mother during gestation and in the first moments after birth.

These signals act as a kind of “warning”, helping to prepare offspring for a hostile environment. This phenomenon does not occur only in one or another species, but in several groups of animals, indicating that it is a very ancient and widespread mechanism in nature.

The problem arises when what the organism was prepared for does not happen in practice. This means that if the environment for which the child was “programmed” in the prenatal phase and in early childhood does not correspond to the real environment in which he or she lives later, this preparation can end up being harmful.

In other words, a child who, due to the influence of maternal stress, develops more sensitive to threats and ready to face dangers, can grow up in a safe environment, without real threats. In this situation, the constant state of alert can turn into exaggerated and unnecessary anxiety, hindering the person’s social and personal functioning.

This happens because the emotional responses that were useful in a context of threat end up becoming a burden in a context of safety, leading to difficulties in emotional regulation and the emergence of anxiety disorders.

Scientists Mark Hanson and Peter Gluckman argue that the origin of anxiety in adolescence is often linked to these early life processes. They show that environmental factors present during pregnancy and early childhood, such as the stress experienced by the mother, the quality of care received and the surrounding environment, can have a major impact on the development of the child's brain.

Areas of the brain that regulate emotions and executive functions, responsible for planning, making decisions and controlling impulses, are especially sensitive to these early signals. The body's intention in adapting to these conditions would be to prepare the child for the type of world they will have to face in the future.

The problem, as the authors explain, occurs when the expectations created by the organism are not confirmed in practice. If the child was prepared for an environment full of threats, but grows up in a safe environment, the excessive activation of anxiety circuits can cause unnecessary suffering.

This mismatch between the expected and actual environment has become even more evident due to the rapid social and technological changes in today’s world. Today’s children and adolescents are being exposed to new types of stress, such as pressures from social media, changes in family structure and academic challenges, that did not exist a few generations ago.

This increases the risk that initial coping mechanisms will end up contributing to the increase in anxiety disorders among young people. Data shows that cases of anxiety in adolescents have increased significantly, and this increase cannot be explained solely by recent events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

It appears that there are older and deeper factors, related to the development and environment in which children grow up, that are contributing to this worrying scenario.

In light of this, experts emphasize the importance of thinking about prevention strategies that begin early in life. This means that mental health care should begin long before the first symptoms appear, involving public policies that support parents, offer good care conditions in the first years of life, and promote healthy environments for children's development.

The idea is to adopt a vision that considers the entire course of life, and not just specific interventions when problems have already set in. This would reduce the impact of anxiety disorders and help new generations grow up healthier, more resilient, and prepared for the challenges of the modern world.

READ MORE:

Growing anxious—Are preschoolers matched to their futures?

Evolutionary and developmental factors may contribute to anxiety in young people

MARK A. HANSON and PETER D. GLUCKMAN

SCIENCE, 29 May 2025, Vol 388, Issue 6750, pp. 918-919

DOI: 10.1126/science.adp3764

Abstract:

Anxiety is an emotion that, in evolutionary terms, can have an adaptive role in ensuring alertness to potential danger. In animals, stresses such as population density, predators, and food availability can act, through maternal cues, on the prenatal and early postnatal development of stress responses in offspring (1). Such maternal and perinatal effects, which operate across a wide range of taxa, lead to predictive adaptive responses in offspring, promoting Darwinian fitness (2). Mechanistically, epigenetic changes in neural pathways have been implicated in explaining how environmental factors can affect gene expression and thus development (3). What if anticipated conditions do not match those that triggered a predictive adaptive response? For example, over- or inappropriate expression of anxiety later in human life can turn out to be maladaptive, reducing an individual’s own or social functionality. Perhaps anxiety disorders can be understood as inappropriate socioemotional regulation in relation to actual, perceived, or anticipated challenges.